in Creativity, Innovation
Where do great ideas come from? There isn’t single source but I believe the best ideas are grounded on a unique insight. I’m not talking about the aha! moment, when something crystalizes in your mind’s eye and suddenly everything becomes clear; no I’m talking about something more deep.
There is no shortage of ways to come up with entrepreneurial ideas, ways of doing something better, ways of thinking, approaches to problem solving, etc.. Companies are started everyday, most are copycats of what already exists, of what is hyped, of what already works.
At most any job you are supported and rewarded for doing the same task over and over again; you get the promotion because of your experience. Why is this? Because the default attitude of most people in charge is to avoid failure. People who are in charge didn’t get there because they took chances and made mistakes, they got there by doing the same thing over and over again; demonstrating competence.
Have you failed? I have, many times. And I proudly say it because it’s part of my journey. I would feel mediocre if I didn’t have the setbacks I’ve had. Anything I’ve done that has worked happened because I learned from the mistakes of others and my own; not because I followed some “success script”.
in Creativity, Innovation
Creativity, the more you use it the more you get it. It’s an indispensable skill, one that all of us have but stop using as we get older. There is a popular myth and only certain people are curious, for example artists, but it’s not true; everyone is creative in their own way. What is also true? Some people stay creative, in spite of the environment they work in, because they want to; that’s the difference.
All organizations need to generate ideas to drive their business forward. They generate ideas in a brainstorm. Brainstorming, when done well can catalyze dormant ideas. But it can result in wasted time and resources when done wrong. How can you execute a better brainstorming session and make sure it doesn’t result in wasted time and resources?
Last week I wrote about how to take the sting out of failure. Today, I want to share with you snipet of a speech on success and how failure drives it. It all starts with mistakes, we’re taught in school (this needs to change) that giving wrong answers and making mistakes is bad. And it continues on to our jobs and our daily lives, society as a whole would rather never make mistakes than to make them.