What a 10-Year-Old Girl and a Cockroach Can Teach Business Pros About Innovation

Story Paul
Oct 24
3 min read

Let me ask you something:

When was the last time your best business idea came from a slide deck, a quarterly KPI report, or a perfectly structured strategy manual?

Exactly.

More often than not, breakthrough thinking comes when we step off the safe path — when we allow curiosity to lead, not just caution.

I was reminded of this during what was supposed to be a routine English lesson… that somehow detoured straight into the secret life of creepy crawly critters.

The Tiger Mom, the Textbook, and the Creepy Crawly

Though I don’t teach English as much as I used to (most of my work these days is with business professionals), I still have a few young students.

One of them — let’s call her Maya (not her real name) comes from a world where Tiger Moms roam freely: ambitious, relentless, and determined to give their kids a head start on the path to CEO of Samsung or Kia Motors by 35.

These moms arrive armed with grammar textbooks, structured drills, and enough academic pressure to power a Formula 1 engine.

One of those textbooks — allegedly ‘fun’ — had an environmental awareness unit so lifeless it could tempt Greta Thunberg to swap her protest signs for a V12 monster truck.

So, instead of dragging Maya through it, I switched gears.

“Let’s write a story,” I said. I mean… I am Story Paul after all — it was bound to happen.

“Can I use AI?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“Does it have to be about the environment?”

“Not necessarily. Just use the vocabulary from the lesson.”

“Can the main character be… a cockroach?”

Now we’re talking!

Coco the Cockroach: An Unlikely Hero

Minutes later, Maya came back with a short story about Coco, a curious little cockroach raised by a strict mother in the shadowy depths of a kitchen bin.

Every day, Mama Roach would remind Coco:

“Humans are dangerous. Hide. Stay small. Don’t get seen.”

But Coco’s heart wasn’t made for hiding. He dreamed of life beyond the boring trash bin.

One night, tempted by the smell of dessert, Coco crawled out to grab a crumb across the kitchen floor. A human slipper almost caught him. He escaped — barely.

Mama Roach was furious. “Curiosity kills cockroaches,” she warned. “Better to be invisible than squashed.”

Coco obeyed… but in his tiny, roachy heart, the spark never died.

What This Has to Do with Your Boardroom

Cute story? Absolutely.

A little gross? Sure.

But also — a perfect mirror for how most professionals and organizations operate.

Mama Roach = the voice of caution — the rules, the KPIs, the “best practices,” the “this is how it’s always been done.”
The bin = your comfort zone — safe, predictable, strategically boring.
The kitchen floor = the unknown — risk, opportunity, adventure… but maybe, a big squashy human shoe.

How many ideas in your company never make it out of the bin?

Innovation Dies Where Fear Rules

It’s wild that 10-year-old Maya, with a large language model riding shotgun, can see it more clearly than a room full of MBAs. But it’s true.

In many boardrooms, curiosity is treated exactly like Coco’s late-night crumb raid — amusing, risky, and quickly shut down.

Quarterly targets, processes, and “what worked before” build a cage around innovation. But here’s the truth:

Every breakthrough started with someone not just thinking outside the bin — but crawling out of it.

The printing press, electricity, flight, the internet, AI, and whatever comes next — none of these happened because someone said, “Let’s keep it safe.” Someone ignored the voice of caution, and like Coco, stepped onto the kitchen floor, and went for the crumb no one else dared to touch.

The Dopamine Advantage

Here’s the kicker:

Maya didn’t just write a fun story. She actually learned and remembered the vocabulary far better than if we had gone through the dull textbook.

Why? Because when motivation and curiosity are triggered, dopamine kicks in — which, as Andrew Huberman often explains, amplifies focus and enhances neuroplasticity.

In plain English:

When we care about something, we learn faster, remember better, and perform at a higher level.

The same applies to your team. Engagement isn’t a “nice to have” — it’s the neurological on-switch for growth.