Sometimes, an effective approach to “something new” is taking something away instead of adding something to the equation.

At a recent hotel, I found this innovation for bar soap in the bathroom…I thought it was pretty intriguing. 

Now, I am more of a liquid soap gal myself, but I know that many hotels still put out bar soap.  Tons of soap gets wasted in the industry each year as guests leave the “middle” behind.  This wastes not only the soap, but for the industry, money.   This middle-less soap is a really elegant solution for that waste that demonstrates out of the box (or a hole in the middle of the box) thinking.

Next time you are innovating, consider what you might take away from your products or services instead of what you can add…