Casual Fridays

I got some correspondence on The Idea Orphanage that encouraged me to share advise on reclaiming your idea orphans. I guess it would be rather cruel to raise awareness of the lost and abandoned without giving a way for you to help. So, here are a few ways to get the adoption process started:

1. Write them a letter.
Let them know you haven’t forgotten them. If you don’t write the idea down, you probably will forget it again. Then we’re right back where we started. While you’re putting the idea to paper, also write down the reason you abandoned it. This may help you create solutions to the original hurdle(s).

2. Adopt as a couple.
Share your idea with someone else who might help you “parent” the concept. This also creates some accountability to the idea. Someone else may push you to meet timeframes or make greater commitments.

3. Prepare a room.
If you’re going to bring a little one into your life, you have to create a good home environment. You’ll need to make space in your life, so create that margin now. Do you have the time and overall capacity to add something else to your plate? We don’t want to have a case of neglect on our hands.

4. Consider Their Age
You should treat the idea differently based on age. A younger idea may need more feeding and development. An older idea may need more acclamation to your environment. A lot may have changed over the years, take that into consideration.

5. Know Your Parental Rights
Before you finalize the “adoption,” make sure you know your rights. Should the idea be patented, under copyright or trademark? Make sure no one else already has these rights while you’re at it.

I was plugging away on my computer when I heard the cry from upstairs.  “Oh no!”  I asked my wife what was wrong.  “You’re going to hate me.”  She said.

I climbed up the stairs and found her in the laundry room.  She began to pull out pieces of paper and show them to me.  “My Moleskine?”

My wife hesitantly responded, “Yeah.”

I had left the notebook in a pair of jeans. Inside the notebook were months of notes.  Ideas, reminders, details and contacts.  Now it looked like scraps from an office wastebasket.

Amazingly, the notes were still intact.  The pages had all become loose leaf, but they didn’t shred (as business cards do, much to my wife’s chagrin).  The ink was slightly smeared in places, but everything is still readable.

So, in this case, rumors of my Moleskine’s demise were greatly exaggerated.

I doubt most notebooks would have escaped the laundry as anything more than pulp in the lint screen.

Sidenote:  This is the second Moleskine tragedy for me in as many weeks.  The previous week, I left my other Moleskine at a school auditorium in Oklahoma City.  Still haven’t tracked it down.  So, if you’re in the OKC area, be on the lookout for a small pocket notebook.  It is black and 3.5″ x 5.5″ in size.  It has slightly curly corners and a rough complexion.  It is full of great ideas and responds by the name of Ledger.

“There are no such things as bad ideas.”

Whoever invented that statement has never watched an infomercial.

There are plenty of bad ideas. The essence of this statement is that bad ideas can lead to good ones. Unfortunately, we either disregard someone’s bad idea altogether or we embrace it, because we’re stupid and don’t realize how bad it is.

Caterpillars can be wrapped in cocoons and made into butterflies. Here are 5 tips for responding to bad ideas:

1. Look past the book cover.
Ask for clarification of the idea. You may discover the idea is better than you thought. Most ideas are initially presented quickly, leaving out much information. The initial pitch is like a book cover. It’s a quick title and subtitle attempting to persuade you to open the book and see what’s inside. As we know, you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover.

2. Try a horse of a different color.
Don’t pitch out the idea completely. Maybe you still use a horse, just change the color. Ask if there’s a way to tweak the idea to overcome objections you may have. Example: “This seems cost prohibitive. Is there a way to do this without incurring so many expenses?”

3. Store nuts for winter.
Maybe I should say, “Store nutty ideas.” Preserve the ideas, even temporarily. If you’re in a meeting, write it on a white board. If the idea was emailed to you, save the email for later. Get away from it for a bit, then come back to it. You may see it in a whole new light.

4. Ask for more bullets.
If you criticize someone’s initial idea(s), you’re taking the gun out of their hands with bullets left in the chamber. Even if their first idea is idiotic, don’t respond hastily. State something like this: “That’s an interesting idea and I want to talk about it more. Before we do that, did you have any other ideas to discuss?” This can’t always be your response or it will be a formula easily recognized as, “That’s pretty lame, but let me patronize you before I tell you so.”

5. Identify Bad Guys vs. Daredevils
Maybe you don’t like the idea because it’s risky. Perhaps the idea is truly good, but carries risk that’s uncomfortable for you. If so, then ask yourself if the idea should be made “safe”… or if you should embrace the risk. You may be surprised by the answer.

There are plenty of bad ideas out there, but these five tips may help you find the beautiful monarch lying dormant inside the worm.

I don’t know how many there are.

Millions? Billions?

I do know they’re alone and wandering. They have been abandoned and forgotten.

How did they get here?

Fear.

Not their fear. Ours.

They are idea orphans. Former hopes, dreams and aspirations who have no guardians.

They were once filled with energy and hope. Now they have no purpose, no passion, no life.

What ideas did you give up on? What dream did you abandon?

Perhaps they’re still here, at the orphanage. You know they’re yours. They stare back with your eyes. They call out with your voice. You both long to be reunited.

What is keeping you apart? Is it fear?

Will you let that fear come between you again?

or

Will you boldly reclaim your ideas – your dreams… today?

Financial Independence.

The Declaration of Independence.

An Independent Spirit.

We esteem independence. Our society celebrates freedom. As we should. But, do we miss the point?

We’re not seeking absolute independence. Well, we may be seeking it, but we won’t find it. It cannot be obtained.

We want to free ourselves of dependency on foreign oil. In order to do so, we become dependent on something else (i.e. biofuel, coal for electricity and/or our domestic supply).

It is not independence. It is a transfer of dependency.

Consider the recent demise of Bear Stearns. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said the collapse of Bear Stearns was due to a lack of confidence, not a lack of capital. Even one of the largest brokerages in the world is dependent on something as uncontrollable as our confidence.

This global truth funnels down to you and your business as well.

What is your business dependent upon?

Vendors?
Trends?
Investors?

Is your dependency upon something trustworthy? Is it a healthy dependency?

What about you? What are you dependent upon?

The security or status of your home?
The love of your family?
The convenience of credit cards?
The comfort of food or drinking?
The trust of a friend?
The strength of your faith?

Is the object of your dependency worthy of your faith in it/them?

What is the result of your dependency? Does it help you build on your life, or dig a hole? Does it undergird your hope, or chain down your dreams?

What is worthy of your dependency?

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries…

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh

A friend shared the poem above with me recently. I had heard it before. In fact, I had memorized it. Still, I had forgotten the principle within it: Find Beauty!

Sounds too simple and obvious, doesn’t it? But think about this a moment.

We’re Busy

We all admit we live in an accelerating culture.

As society continues to speed up, it becomes increasingly difficult to pause long enough to see the beauty around us. We don’t have time to pluck blackberries, let alone notice a burning bush.

In April of 2007, The Washington Post performed a test. They set out a burning bush to see who would notice it. You may have seen the story or the video of the event. World-renowned violinist Joshua Bell performed some of the greatest music ever composed, playing a $3.5 million violin. 1,100 people passed him. A few dozen noticed him. Beauty was overlooked in favor of rush hour.

Beauty is Hard to See During Ugly Times

Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin was among the first British soldiers to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. While waiting an excessive number of days for relief supplies to arrive, he witnessed droves of former prisoners continuing to die. They needed food, water and medical supplies. Instead, the first shipment they received was a very large quantity of lipstick. Here is the account from his diary:

I don’t know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post mortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.

History has recorded few things as ugly as the Holocaust. Yet, something as simple as lipstick brought beauty (not just the cosmetic variety) to an ugly tragedy.

Maybe you, or someone you know, are in the midst of some pretty ugly stuff. Beauty is easy to see when life is good. But what about when it is hard or painful? Is there something simple, which can bring an element of beauty into the camp? You may be surprised how little things can make a huge impact.

Find a Guide

I attended an arts conference at Willow Creek last year. Dewitt Jones was one of my favorite speakers. A photographer for National Geographic, he talked about doing what you love… or sometimes loving what you do.

He traveled all over the world for National Geographic. When he arrived someplace foreign to him, he would find a guide. Not a guide to show him around. “Those were easy to find.” He said. He found guides who were in love with the area, because they had something to share: their own unique stories.

Maybe you have a hard time finding beauty. Find a guide. They will help you see the beauty which surrounds you. The bush afire with God.

May you find that earth is indeed crammed with heaven.

I got feedback that my Reasons No One Likes Your Ideas was missing one important reason: your ideas are bad.

I intentionally left that off the list, because it opens a whole new can of worms. I’m ready to open that can now.

You’ve heard the saying, “There’s no such thing as a bad idea.”

Not true. There are plenty of bad ideas out there. Some are short-sighted, others are just plain stupid. We know bad ideas exist. We’ve seen them, heard them and thought of them ourselves. This phrase is helpful in brainstorming sessions because you don’t want a brilliant idea to be kept a secret for fear of criticism. It’s not a claim that all ideas are worthwhile.

So, how can you tell if your idea is dead in the water?

1) It puts you in the wrong batter’s box.
In baseball, unless you’re a switch hitter, batting from the other side of the plate greatly reduces your effectiveness. If your idea doesn’t line up with strengths, consider whether there’s a better solution on the right side of the plate. You’ll hit more homeruns by focusing on your strengths.

2) It’s pie in the sky.
Is your idea disconnected from reality? Does it actually solve a problem, or is it just cool? Form follows function. This doesn’t mean your idea can’t be cool. Great design is a must today, but if isn’t purposeful then it’s useless. Be careful. This is very subjective. What you think is ‘pie in the sky’ may be a great idea that simply has to be reconnected to reality.

3) You’re trading flies for frogs.
Is an army of frogs your solution to a plague of flies? Congratulations! You just traded one problem for another (possibly bigger problem). Does your idea create a bigger issue than it solves? Then it’s probably not a solution. It’s just another problem.

4) Imitation is the greatest form of flattening.
I’m not talking about flat hierarchy or “The World Is Flat” thinking. I’m talking about flat as in no peaks or valleys. As in a flatline on an EKG. Flat without anything to grip or hold onto. Want a flat company? Copy your competitor’s ideas. You’ll lose anything that makes you different from the competition. Your products become flat. Your marketing will be flat. And so will your sales.

5) You never wake up from the dream.
I love to dream BIG. But if you never wake up from the dream and make it a reality, what good is the idea? There is a difference between creativity and imagination. Execution. CREATIVITY = IMAGINATION + EXECUTION (C = I + E). In order to be creative, you have to CREATE something. Dreaming big only gets you halfway there. Don’t be afraid to go the rest of the way. Your idea might be great, but no one will know if it’s never created.

This is not an exhaustive list, nor is it always applicable. These five signs help create a rule of thumb. Another reason I didn’t write about this before is I believe bad ideas can lead to good ideas. Give yourself, and others, the grace to throw a bad idea into the hopper. You never know what epiphanies may follow.

While we’re in the midst of it, creativity can seem like a vast ocean.  In reality, it is a lake.  Without occasional rainfall, it begins to dry up and be depleted.

We too need the rain.  We need a healthy cycle of creation and recreation or we dry up and become depleted.  The constant demands of life have to be set aside occasionally, or eventually we no longer have the reserve to meet them.
My post this week is short as we’re off to a lake for some much needed refreshment.

I hope you too take time for recreation, so you may continue to create and REcreate.

… the originator of ideas is undervalued.

My family has had a business of somekind in my hometown since 1914. That might be where I get my entrepreneurial spirit. While I was growing up, we had a local grocery store named Staiger’s Grocery. Original, isn’t it? I worked there for nearly five years. Primarily, I stocked the shelves and loaded people’s cars with their purchases.

One day, I was maneuvering a large stack of cattle feed (it was Kellyville, Oklahoma - we had to carry groceries for the livestock as well). The stack shifted and began to fall. I tried to keep it from falling and almost got smashed in the process. My father was the store manager. He saw what happened and warned me, “We can replace the feed, but we can’t replace you. Next time, let it go.” I don’t think he said that just because I’m his son. Dad valued the people who worked for him. Actually, he values people… period.

Ask a manager/boss/business owner about the ideas which have made their company successful and they’ll get excited. Usually, these are the stories they love to tell.

Ask about the people they work with or employ and you’ll hear the horror stories. Oddly enough, some love to tell these stories as well.
Problem is - you can replace the ideas, but you can’t replace the people.

Do you devalue the people you work with? Don’t just look at what you say to them. See what your actions say about their value as well. How and when do you reward? How and when do you correct?

How do you let them know they’re irreplaceable? Do you even believe they are?

This was on my cup of Starbucks coffee today:

The Way I See It #290

On the battlefield of ideas, winning requires moving toward the sound of the guns.

– Newt Gingrich

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives

I’m not big on battle metaphors. Too often they lead to a zero-sum philosophy of “I win, you lose.” or “You win, I lose.” In other words, WE never win. I think that is shortsighted.

Still, I love the perception that courage is required with ideas. That is absolutely true.

Ideas are like love. You only get out of them what you’re willing to risk yourself.

Don’t be afraid of running toward the sound of the guns today.