The ability to acknowledge one concept in use in one field and then transform and adapt it into a completely different one can be a very lucrative skill indeed. That's the level of thinking many successful entrepreneurs have a tendency to resort to. Just think about blue ocean strategy for instance - very inspiring. Sorry if I'm going a bit off-topic, but it's something I've been contemplating for a while and trying to figure out how to practice efficiently on a daily basis. Maybe I could somehow make a mindmap of hundreds or even thousands of existing 'work tasks' or business models and then everytime I stumble upon an idea of how something is conceptualized in one field, I could test run its applicability to all of those other models in a quick way... and find a new, perfect and innovative match! I sense a blog post coming up.
Maybe you've already created something like this, Steve. That is, if my thoughs were even remotely understandable.
Thinking is such hard work, *laughs*, and then I-M makes thinking even less desirable when it's a so much easier way to get what you want in the end.