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How to grow ideas
I was thoroughly taken with a post Chris Brogan put up on his blog today about seeds in a wild garden—about having and sharing ideas and watching them grow.
But how do you grow ideas? What do you need? Here’s my take, which I posted there….
To be an excellent “sower of seeds” you need certain things—or have the desire and capacity to learn or acquire them as you go along:
1. Fertile ground, and the ability to recognize it. Is this a group of people, an organization, a market that has the potential for growth and change? Remove the rocks, pull the weeds.
2. Fertilizer. If the ground isn’t ready as-is, what needs to happen for change to take root?
3. Lots and lots of seeds. Never underestimate the power of luck, both good and bad. You may have perfect seeds, and a perfect environment, but some might just not grow. More seeds = higher probability of success.
4. Time. You don’t get from seed to plant without all the in-between steps. Some plants grow faster than others, but they all have to break from the shell, put down roots, push up to the soil, and grow. And that takes time—and patience.
5. Attention. Another word for this might be care. You have to tend your garden. If the environment is drying up, you need to give water. And you need to know when to lay off and let mother nature do her work.
6. Tolerance for failure. I’d rather plant 100 seeds and have 25 fail than plant only 10 with complete assurance they’d all survive. In one case I have a 25% failure rate—but 75 plants. In the other, nothing dies, but there’s only 10 to keep growing….
7. For any of the above, know someone who can do it better than you, if you can’t. Most of us aren’t great at all of these things. But you probably know enough people that when you all work together, you can accomplish great things.
What else do you need to make an (idea) garden grow?
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Some Thoughts on Creativity & Idea Generation:
1.)There are commercial companies that specialize in New Product Research & Idea Generation. Some even have rotating groups of bright brainstormers from different age groups, economic backgrounds, and even countries.
Good results have been produced when a creative group has been isolated for a weekend with a specific problem to solve.
Large groups are broken into smaller groups, when then produce lots of ideas. The best ideas from each small group are recorded, then people are switched. This continues until all have been matched with each other. Then the ideas (no matter how wild) are evaluated, with pros & cons thrown out (and often other, new ideas are generated). Favorites are selected. Facilitators keep the process moving along.
In the best environments, commercial artists are waiting to transform the hottest ideas into samples and story boards. It’s an incredibly energizing environment and actually produces wonderful results, fast.
2.) For individuals, Barbara Sher runs “Idea Parties” for real people – live, on the phone, and on Twitter – in which a person submits a “Wish” and an “Obstacle”. Again, a group of diverse people brainstorm & offer their suggestions, practical advice, and real-life connections. The more people, the better. Amazing results have happened this way, too. In fact, in March of 2009, Ms. Sher had a free idea party on Twitter that launched hundreds of dreams. It was truly inspiring!
Some Conclusions:
-Ideas flow when a motivated group gets together.
-It helps to have a moderator to control the flow and keep things on track.
-A large, widely diverse group is better than a small, “inbred” one.
-No initial idea should be thrown out until something worthwhile is found in it.
This is a fascinating topic, and one well worth exploring further. Thanks for starting a great discussion.
Warm regards,
Jennifer Blair
I’m worried that most of what I have is fertilizer.
What a cool site design, and a much better summary of what I started so vaguely in the wee hours. Thank you for that!
Ah, but I know you see, Chris, that it’s not necessarily what’s in the fertilizer, it’s what you do with it, and how it works with all the other elements involved. See #7….
What I love about Jennifer’s response? It details what I would call the “sunshine” required for any idea to grow. Great post, love how you took the next logical step from Chris’s post.
What’s wonderful about the process you describe, Jennifer, is that it elevates the value of idea creation above that of judgment. We can never tell from the seed what the plant will ultimately look like, whether it will grow or die, whether it will conform to standards or do something new and different–the same is true with ideas. It’s critically important to give ideas exposure, and consideration, before evaluating their worth.
Great addition, Deanna. Ideas need nourishment in all forms!
Love this post, Tamsen! At first I couldn’t even think of anything else required for ideas to grow, but then it hit me… #8: It takes a great GARDENER!
Coming from the agency world, we live in a swirl of ideas. But the success of the harvest is ultimately a result of having a leader that has the vision and wisdom to know which seeds to focus resources on.
When there’s only so much time, water, sunlight, and soil, it’s essential to have someone who can provide experience and guidance, and keep the goal in focus. Especially when multiple ideas take energy and resources away from each other, it’s key to have a gardener who knows what will likely be the most promising crop.
And not to mention seeing beyond the ideas of the moment and having vision for next season. Maybe that’s #9: Garden Strategy
Thanks again for a great post!
Great point, Michelle–I wrote this from the perspective of the gardener, but by bringing it up specifically you made me realize that it’s not always about being a solo gardener. Sometimes you need a coop, which, while related to #7, is a different concept.
Sometimes the group makes the difference….