Ideas are useless. There. I said it. It’s one of the big reasons you can’t copyright an idea. Ideas on their own are nothing, fleeting and piffle.
Thinking, on the other hand, can lead to something. Ideas come out of nowhere. We can’t hold onto them. We shouldn’t even try. Ideas are best blurted out and, subsequently, best thought over.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people talk about brainstorming and still it’s such a rarity in the business world. I can think of a few reasons why:
- “Brainstorming” is a terrible word. It sounds like an activity one might do at a corporate retreat. Writers call it “workshopping” which is almost as bad but feels a little more consultative and inclusive.
- Thinking is hard.
- People are scared that maybe their ideas are no good. Further investigation might prove that their idea is bad and that could lead to a blow to self-esteem.
I’m guilty of this. I’ve sat in meetings and not wanted to speak up in case my idea was no good. I’ve also sat in meetings when other people have had ideas and responded internally or sometimes (and shamefully) orally that the idea was no good.
This is horribly destructive behaviour. Nothing good comes of rejecting an idea outright. The truth is that ideas are not useless. I lied. Ideas have one very important use. They are starting points.
I remember one meeting in which I was presented with an exceptionally startling idea. It involved completely abandoning all the work that came before and changing direction. “Let’s completely abandon all the work that we’ve done and focus on this other thing,” was actually the starting point of the meeting. It’s a terrifying prospect.
It’s terrifying because, apart from being precious about all the work already done, this idea might lead us down the wrong path. “Might” is an important word here because wherever there’s a “might” there is similarly a “might not”. Both paths need to be embraced when presented with an idea.
So we started doing something nobody else discussing the idea had done. We started investigating it. We drew sketches on bits of paper. We asked each other questions, answered them and made notes. We thought about ways we could make something that worked.
We all fought that instinct that causes us to say “no” instantly. Instead we asked more questions. “No” doesn’t get you anywhere but questions about potential problems can lead to solutions.
What we ended up with was a long way from the original idea. Instead, it was a set of building blocks on which to plan something new and potentially wonderful. At the end of it we all felt pretty positive about the work we had done.
Our final concept might never come to fruition but the client now has enough information to make a decision. That’s all they really wanted, and all we had to do was think about it.
