By N.L. Hohns
Think about it. Until an idea is given form and function, it is nothing more than a capricious impression of something imagined in the mind’s eye and nowhere else. A mental image of what might be. A fanciful notion of what may be possible. A vague conception that breaks through the status quo, ignores restraints and limitations and rises on the wings of inspiration and the power of intent.
Ideas are very precious indeed. A smile, a wink of the eye, a palpable excitement in the air, and they thrive. A yawn, a furrowed brow, dead silence, and they die. In this age where creativity is the currency of innovation, and good thinkers are in great demand, we must do all that we can to nurture the really good ideas, strengthen them with the wisdom of big-picture thinking and refine them with the necessary clarity, focus and value so that they have the substance to become real.
We at LGK believe that the really great ideas – those knock-your-socks-off, must-move-forward, can’t-stop-thinking-about ideas – are most likely the ones that have an uncanny way of planting themselves in our hearts and minds and beg for further exploration. Then to help us determine if the idea is worth pursuing, we ask ourselves and others whose opinion we value a few important questions. Is this concept different? Does it solve a problem, a need or a void? Is it marketable? Is it profitable? Will it excite others the same way it excites us?
Dan and Chip Heath, in their book While Some Ideas Thrive and Others Die suggest that ideas that stick and thrive have these six key traits in common: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotional and stories.
Remember, every good idea has the potential to become a great idea. All you have to do is think about it.
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