Have you ever found yourself in a business meeting and from nowhere comes an idea which may have some value but is not in keeping with the current conversation? How often have you simply made a mental note to yourself to remember it for later? Did you!?
Making a mental note of an idea is a bad idea for more reasons than just the risk of forgetting it.
Consider these three points:
1. Making mental notes to remember ideas risks them being forgotten.
2. Making mental notes to remember ideas blocks your creativity for new ideas.
3. Making mental notes to remember ideas engenders a ‘scarcity’ mentality.
I am a firm believer in the abundance of ideas and the need to get them out there, get them written down or give them away as fast as possible.
Verbalise
In meetings try and verbalise ideas as fast as possible. Get them out into the open. If an idea is out of context then write is down instead so as to not disrupt the conversation.
Write
There will be times where you simply can’t verbalise your ideas so write them down. Write them the moment they enter your thoughts then put your attention back to the conversation again. At the end of the meeting, tear out the page and offer what you have written.
Abundance vs Scarcity
When you share an idea you create a space for the next to follow. The more you share the more ideas come along and the more chance you give yourself to have those truly breakthrough ideas. When you sit on an idea, brood over it and keep it secret out of fear the effect is the complete opposite. Ideas become scarce and mediocre and creativity withers. This paradigm is every much as true for companies as it is for individuals.
Being sharing and abundant with your ideas must of course be tempered with corporate responsibilities. Legal instruments such as non-disclosure will help here but the more you can share ‘off the cuff’ the more abundant your ideas and creativity will become.
Robert Rath – http://www.innovation-mentor.com
Can’t get enough of it.
Oops, is that a scarcity statement?