#ideas
The inspirational Earl Nightingale said this:
“Everything begins with an idea”
Nightingale’s story is an incredible one of discovery and thoughtfulness. He was a serving Marine when his ship the U.S.S Arizona was bombed in Pearl Harbour and he escaped with his life thanks to a fellow Marine helping him to shore. He believed this survival was for a greater reason and he felt the urge to enlighten others in any way he could.
I wonder if he was around in the early twenty-first century whether he’d be labelled a stage-stalking motivational speaker and thrown into the same category as T*ny R*bbins and others. He seems to be a more virtuous “thought leader” than the preaching performers of now, so I’m comfortable quoting things he says such as this opening line.
And in a similar way, modern-day evangelist, technologist and entrepreneur Peter Diamandis recently published “Peter’s Laws” <here>. I’m not sure what validates anyone other than the well-known Moores and Newtons of this world to come up with such laws, but this one intrigued me:
I really get this. I’m sure there’s a world of amazing things we now take for granted, that someone once said was a crazy idea. And then it became that breakthrough thing.
Back to the spark for this post. I’ve had several conversations with people this week all about their ideas.
- Students on my Emerging Technology course at an International Business School;
- Fellow practitioners keen to go beyond the impact of their work as an individual professional; and
- Directors, CEOs, Academics - keen that their life’s work is not one of decent compliance, but of standout achievement and inspiration.
What I’ve noticed about people talking about their ideas appears in two aspects:
- Unbelievable excitement, energy and vitality from them - to something they would be really committed to. Something they feel goes quite some way to fulfilling their entire reason for being in life; and
- A realisation that a multitude of resources and actions are necessary in order for their idea to be built into an actual thing: so it can be created, tested, adapted and made to happen that delivers the impact they believe their idea can achieve.
I became animated by their ideas and then deflated by their realisation that there were some hard yards ahead to even get started. I could sense their uncertainty of what lies ahead and its dampening of their spirits. I could sense them filing the idea into their “oh well, maybe not such a good idea” drawer in their mind’s filing cabinet.
And of course, the world is littered (literally) with ideas that made it to products. It’s also littered (less literally) with ideas that never made it to a product for a reason.
In both cases, we would do well to appreciate that the hard yards ahead are there for a reason. Deterring wasteful, naive or shallow ideas that we don’t need, should avoid or could do some damage even.
Yet such instant deflation could be overshadowing something that is truly needed in the world. Before we reject our own idea we should at least allow it to flourish for a short time and build it out a little more.
Then once we’ve thought it through a bit and maybe sketched it out, when we’re comfortable that our idea has merit and we’re prepared for the anticipated yards ahead, we have to take our idea beyond us and seek investment.
Not the kind of investment that means you have to knock on the door of some random Venture Capitalist or Growth Hacker. Using the word investment here has a range of meanings, so here goes what I’m thinking here.
- If someone has the budget to back the idea, then the idea could become more viable, tested and realise its goal. A financial investor.
- If someone has the belief that the idea is a good one, it could create the necessary energy in you as the holder of the idea to make it a viable, tested realisable thing. A spiritual investor.
- If someone has experiences and insight, they could help make the initial thoughts into something more viable and formulated into a plan of action. A tactical investor.
- If someone has an existing business venture where this idea is a good fit, it could be the perfect incubator and help it become a viable, tested, realisable thing. A hosting investor.
- If someone has a huge black book of contacts and a great network, they could help you with others who could be all of the above investors. A connecting investor.
Of course, this is nothing new and is behind the operations of said VCs like Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and others. I’m sure all these companies have these features as part of their business model.
Of course, there’s Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and even Kiva for places where people can raise funds. In many ways, this is where their ideas will either crash and burn or launch into orbit.
Yet despite having a wider field of investors and platforms, these are still not really what’s needed at the initial stage of dreams out loud. Our innovation infrastructure is still inaccessible to the people I’ve been speaking to, so may as well not exist.
How does a think-tank get going to change the way we something gets done?
What can we do to help more people be aware of the help that’s out there to get an idea into a business venture?
How do we leverage some internal budget to test our idea and work out what it will really save if taken to full implementation?
These are the things that could give an idea life and help it at least start. It seems like there’s a huge gap to get to before we even think about the world of venture capital.
So what can we do about this?
And before anyone asks, isn’t this what chambers of commerce, growth accelerators and the like are all for?
Yes, but again, these don’t occur in everyday circumstances like the ones I’ve described above and whilst great places to network and so on, aren’t known for their in-the-moment reach and capabilities.
The things I’m talking about, happen in the margins of life. The in-class, over-the-coffee-table, on-the-train kind of conversations I’ve been having.
Conversations like this are our dreams out loud.
That’s all these things are, yet they are alive with opportunity and possibility.
And it’s linked to something in a recent keynote speech I delivered. I addressed the room as the dignitaries, leaders and entrepreneurs they were and added this: Dreamers.
When we have ideas in this way, we’re being dreamers. Our ideas are essentially our dreams out loud.
In order to get them somewhere though, we need listeners, shapers, enthusiasts, thinkers, critiquers, planners and all those investors above.
When we dream out loud, we need to know whether we’re “flying a kite” or whether we have something we think others would truly benefit from, get behind and invest in.
So, again, what can we do about this?
(a) In-company dreams out loud.
The esteemed Garry Ridge <CEO of the WD40 Company> talks of learning moments and that the company thrives on them. Business at WD40 is about learning moments. And that has shifted the culture of that company into being one of the dreamers who find their investors, try something and learn. It’s what powers that enterprise. I would hazard a guess that they have a lot of people around them who will invest in their ideas <dreams out loud> and therefore things happen.
There’s something in WD40’s approach that has created a place where dreams out loud become the first step in sustaining a great place to work and a thriving company fuelled by ideas and powered by those learning moments.
(b) In replicating this in the world outside of company/collective compounds.
I’m suggesting we create the world’s biggest ideas network: the Dreams Out Loud platform using hashtag #DreamsOutLoud
We need no infrastructure — we use what’s already here.
We need no investors — we use who’s already here.
We need no stimulation — we are already doing this.
All we need is to raise our consciousness. Of having ideas worth sharing (!) and of being in the honoured position to be receiving someone’s dream out loud and help them.
So next time you have an idea see if this helps
- If you are around people; see if they can act in any of the investment roles by sharing your #dreamoutloud
- If it seems to have some mileage <before you put in the yards> post using #dreamsoutloud. If you’re unsure about posting it, you might have to put in some more thinking or investing work
- See who or what reacts to your posting and you might just find others to help your #dreamoutloud to become an idea with some traction.
- If you’re wanting to be any kind of investor, scout #dreamsoutloud and play fair with those who are posting ideas. Help them make their idea possible.
- If you fancy running anything like a Hackathon, an Open Space session or just looking for inspiration, search #dreamsoutloud and see what others are up to. Join in and maybe build on their ideas.
- Run #dreamsoutloud days in your school, workplace or community group. Let the ideas fly and see who wants to be one of the 5 investor types to get it going.
- Set up #dreamsoutloud online chats and sharing sessions whenever you need some new thinking on sticky problems.
As New York University Professor Paul Romer declared on accepting his Nobel Prize in Economics “new ideas fuel the economy”.
Maybe #dreamsoutloud will fuel our way into better schools, workplaces, communities, society and a better world.
PS — you might want to also check this out — some great ideas here.
