Friday, September 30, 2011

Taking The Storm Out Of Brainstorming

"Bringing up new ideas is one of the great ways to chase perfection."

A friend of mine was in a group of us who were thinking about ways to welcome new people to the neighborhood. One of his ideas sounded catchy at first, but within a minute or so we realized that there were a couple of practical snags with it. However, another person came up with a related idea that made even more sense. Eventually we came up with a plan that excited most everybody.

What about the first guy? He generously offered an idea when no one else had (to that point), it was picked at and discarded... and someone else got the satisfaction of coming up with the "winning" concept, right? But that's a victim's mentality, not to mention the selfish one. The big flaw in the thinking is that it wasn't "his" idea, but "an" idea or better yet, the "group's" idea. Whether it's a neighborhood meeting, a family deciding what to do for fun this weekend, or a team at the office, some of the most successful and creative ones master the ability to celebrate every new thought as a step to the best one, and forgetting their own ego.

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