Some ideas I have about my business are embarrassing.
No, really.
Quite stupid when I say them out loud.
I amaze myself how, on a Tuesday, I can have an idea that I really believe will be transformational. That will take us global.
Then, when I think about it on a Wednesday, my cheeks flush.
I blush.
Because yesterday’s idea is so daft.
I have loads of daft ideas. About a dozen a week.
Embarrassing!
Change.
So – I have decided.
Something has to change.
I can’t go on like this.
From tomorrow – this recurring situation will be gone for good.
I will STOP being embarrassed.
Stupid ideas?
Oh yes, I’ll keep having those.
They’re important.
3 Comments
Every great idea starts off as a stupid idea.
“Hey man, I’ve just had a thought. I was looking at the sky last night and I reckon the earth travels around the sun, not the other way around – AND – I’ve got a hunch that the world is a ball, not flat, so when you go past the bit on the map that says, ‘Here be monsters’, you won’t fall off the edge. What do you think?
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Hey Mr Eastman, what if one day people don’t need film to take photos. What are we gonna do then?
“Don’t be stupid.”
Apple employee A: “Hey Steve, I think Apple should make a portable CD player.”
Steve: “Nah, I think we should make something so that people can put their entire record collection in their pocket”
Apple employee A: “Don’t be stupid Steve.”
Apple employee B: “No actually Steve, you are being stupid. I think we should make something so that someone can fit every song ever recorded in their pocket.”
Steve: “That’s stupid. But stupid great. I want it on my desk in 24 hours or you’re fired!”
I could go on.
Be really stupid. You never know you might change the world.
I think that if I worry about the practicalities of the new, at the innovation stage, not much happens.
I believe this is why so many good ideas come to us when we are not supposed to be thinking about good ideas. Riding a bike. In the shower.
It’s because there’s no content. Context can be constricting. At the end, that’s OK. But not at the beginning.
It’s the Ed de Bono idea of when you are in the initial phase of idea generation, no one is allowed to wear the black hat of criticism. No bad ideas at the beginning. The bad ideas will have plenty of opportunities to be removed.