Folks, i found this interesting about how you can make your big ideas a reality. Hope you find it too.
Big
ideas fuel the entrepreneurial spirit. An idea passionately pursued through a
labyrinth of “what-ifs” can be the launch of the next great company, the new
skyrocketing startup. Apple, under the leadership of Steve Jobs offers an
example of a company built on a foundation of big ideas. With a storied
reputation of innovation, Jobs and Apple seemed to have captured the magic of
having the right idea at the right time over and over again.
But
this magic is misleading. We applaud the genius of those like Steve Jobs for
big ideas that transform our perceptions about what is possible. However, we
fail to recognize the work that got him there. For every ‘Steve soundbite’ we
remember today, there were weeks of intense development, preparations and
actual rehearsals – all that just to present the idea. It was never the right
idea at the right time but an idea that was thoroughly explored and improved
over a period of time.
This
is the most important lesson aspiring startups and entrepreneurs can learn from
Jobs and other big thinkers: how to give space and time to discover, explore
and convey big ideas.
We
live in a world where people are sharing more ideas than ever. We have more
status updates and instant pictures than we can possible consume. But just as
the rise of fast food gave rise to slow food, what will the reaction be to a
world summarized in 140 characters? We’re producing more updates at an
increasingly rapid rate, but at the same time, where does this leave our
ideation process?
All
businesses, but startups in particular, are under enormous pressure to deliver
a continuous flow of big ideas to maintain a competitive advantage and meet
economic goals. In fact, as businesses continue to outsource standardized
business processes, the ability to think creatively is crucial to moving up in
the value chain. An express example of this is printed on the back of your
iPhones: “Designed by Apple in California. Manufactured in China”.
While
there is a demand for big ideas, flawed approaches fail to give space to truly
out-of-the-box thinking. We often associate the big idea with a singular moment
in time when an ethereal concept lurking in the subconscious finds its way to
our conscious mental understanding. It is the “eureka!” moment when scattered
pieces coalesce to give birth to an idea. But the “eureka” moment is a myth;
big ideas need space to breathe, and develop.
The
background for many great ideas is the culmination of work done over a number
of years. It is being passionate about a set of questions coupled with an
insatiable thirst for following unchartered territories that gives life to the
big idea. Far from a moment of brilliance, big ideas are the result of vetting
between alternatives and making connected concepts come alive. While the spark
may hit unexpectedly, it takes time and space to grow the spark into a full
fire of an idea. Even great ideas that are developed “by accident” come to
light because the idea generation process allowed space, both literally and
figuratively for idea exploration. As Louis Pasteur famously said, “chance
favors only the prepared mind.”
The
idea creation process is then followed by a great deal of rehearsal for the
presenting or communicating those ideas to an audience.
Street
artist JR is probably one of the most celebrated artists of recent times. His
mission is to change the world with art and he has been working towards this
over the course of his career. In a recent year-long photography project he set
out to humanize historical events by showing people left behind. He recounted
this endeavor at TED upon winning the TED 2011 prize. For a project that was
years in the making, he communicated it to the audience in six minutes.
So
if there is a demand for big ideas what can we do to come up with them? It
turns out there is a science. We need space to think big, metaphorically and
physically. The role of space is essential to creative exploration and free
thought. In fact, cognitive neuroscience studies have demonstrated that a sense
of location helps us to make connections and remember details. The ancient
Greeks provided an illustration of how space can help us to plan the
communication of big ideas. They memorized speeches by laying things out in
their living rooms. Moving between the kitchen table, chair and the sofa helped
them understand relations and recall information. Through arranging ideas in
one space and illustrating them via a cinematic walkthrough, they could connect
ideas in a memorable fashion and design talks that stuck with their audiences.
Today
some of the world’s best ideation companies like Duarte Design, Gensler and
IDEO use space to form connections and determine how to tell the story
effectively. By adopting a modern take on the Greek’s method of Loci, these
companies use big surfaces like walls, tables and whiteboards to walk through
ideas. The canvas allows creative freedom to explore ideas and enables a story
to develop without the constraints of preconceived templates. For audiences it
the big space that gives context, a sense of where we’re coming from and where
we’re going.
In
an age of bite sized communications, the big idea stands out. But it doesn’t
have to be one or the other. Entrepreneurs can tap the power of compact,
instant updates to ignite the questions that can lead to deeper exploration.
Short form communication can satisfy our very real need for social interaction,
but leave room for ideas with deeper meaning, ideas that may that lead to the
next Apple, Facebook or Amazon. A real-time flow of updates only increases the
demand for food-for-thought and the development of big ideas that will have
impact and be remembered.
Peter Arvai, CEO of Prezi, is passionate about helping people
create and communicate big ideas. Peter is a serial entrepreneur, prior
to joining Prezi, he established healthcare startup omvard.se and was
part of creating the first mobile news reader.
"live life with a simple eye"
Africa's finest!
Brian Pade
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