Tuesday 6th June 2023
- Key insights
- Original thinkers produce more ideas than non-originals
- Industry peers are the best people to judge the quality of your ideas
- Success is based on the execution of the idea, not the quality of the idea
- Don’t make suggestions unless you have status
- Be the one that points out all the weaknesses of your own ideas
- Make your ideas seem less radical and present analogues to what the audience already knows
- Create a sense of urgency to gain adoption of your ideas
- If your idea is about gains, your audience will choose the smaller more certain option
Key insights
Original thinkers produce more ideas than non-originals
Produce three-times more ideas than you would normally. Originals aren’t better at judging the quality of their ideas – they just produce more ideas. This gives them more variation and therefore more chance of originality. Thomas Edison, famous for creating the lightbulb, had 1,093 patents. When it comes to idea generation, quantity is the most predictable path to quality.
Industry peers are the best people to judge the quality of your ideas
Fellow creators (in the same field) are the best judges of the quality of new ideas. The creators themselves are too optimistic. On the flip side, managers, audiences and customers also fail to correctly predict the success of novel ideas because they compare them to what they have seen succeed in the past.
When evaluating ideas managers and experts typically look to historical precedent to make judgements on quality – because those prototypes have lead to their previous successful decisions in the past. They also tend to be more focussed on what could go wrong so tend to miss out on the most original ideas. This caused studio executives passed on hits like Star Wars, E.T., Seinfeld and Pulp Fiction. The same is true in corporations: the laser printer was nearly cancelled at Xerox for being expensive and impractical; the X-Box was nearly abandoned by Microsoft.
Success is based on the execution of the idea, not the quality of the idea
When evaluating whether an idea is likely to succeed, we have to look to the likelihood of that idea being successfully delivered.
If we want to forecast whether the originators of a novel idea will make it successful, we need to look beyond the enthusiasm they express about their ideas, and focus on the enthusiasm they have for execution that they reveal through their actions
Are they rehearsing and re-evaluating their concepts to make sure they get the execution right? Are they the guys still working at midnight just to make sure the smallest detail is done right?
Don’t make suggestions unless you have status
Power involves exercising authority or control over others, status is being respected and admired. If you try to exercise power without status, you will be punished by the people you are trying to exercise power over.
When you are presenting new ideas, you are in effect telling people what they should be doing. When these are people that have the power to make the decision, you have to make sure they don’t feel undermined in your approach.
To do this, use phrases like, “maybe I’m wrong, but..”. Also, make sure to present all the weaknesses in your ideas upfront.
Be the one that points out all the weaknesses of your own ideas
By presenting all the weaknesses and problems upfront – the reasons why they shouldn’t invest – it brings the audience at ease that you are not trying to hide something from them. It makes them your ally – can they help you solve that problem?
Not only does it convey that you are trustworthy and modest, but also that you are knowledgeable and that you have thought things through.
Newton’s third law can also apply in human interactions: every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Make your ideas seem less radical and present analogues to what the audience already knows
To get an audience to buy into a novel idea, you need to help them to see why it is similar to something they already know. When Disney was looking to produce their first ever original story film, The Lion King, the board were reluctant to sign-off on the idea until it was presented as being “Hamlet with Lions”.
Create a sense of urgency to gain adoption of your ideas
The key difference between programmes that got wide-scale adoption vs. others was that the successful ones created a sense of urgency. It was not about creating an emotion or the clarity of the message.
If your idea is about gains, your audience will choose the smaller more certain option
Your idea might be about some benefit or avoiding some loss. But depending on what you are presenting, it will affect how open your audience is to taking a chance. For example, when faced with a small guaranteed loss, an audience might be more willing to flip a coin to avoid this loss even with the potential for greater loss. By contrast, when a small gain is almost certain (a business continue operating as usual) they are less willing to try something new with higher potential gains.
This is why when you are presenting an idea that requires your audience to shift from their current solution (i.e. take a risk) you must show first why they are facing a “guaranteed loss” and thus make them more likely to try something new.
The Equity Analyst 