==========================
MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN
Overcoming the Obstacles Between
Vision and Reality
by Scott Belsky (nonfiction)
Published by Portfolio
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
ISBN: 9781591843122
======================================
Specifically, we discovered that the most productive creative
individuals and teams have a lot in common when it comes to (1)
organization and relentless execution, (2) engaging peers and
leveraging communal forces, and (3) strategies for leading creative
pursuits. While many of us spend too much energy searching for the
next great idea, my research shows that we would be better served by
developing the capacity to make ideas happen--a capacity that
endures over time.
My hope is that the insights in this book will provide you with a
road map for building that capacity--and ultimately help more great
ideas gain traction. The era upon us is filled with problems and
opportunities that require fresh innovation like never before. Being
more efficient or cheaper is no longer enough to be competitive in a
global marketplace. We need to conceive new ideas to address the
problems and opportunities that surround us--and we need to defy the
odds and make these ideas actually happen.
This book was written with the creative person or team in mind--
people driven by deep interests and gifted with multiple ideas on
how to pursue them. But this book was not written merely for the
stereotypical "artist." John Maeda, president of the Rhode Island
School of Design, put it best: "I'm not for the notion of 'artistic'
or 'creative' meaning making a pretty picture. Every entrepreneur I
have ever met is an artist. They are all forced to become com-
fortable with failure. And for entrepreneurs, their canvas is their
company."
WHY MOST IDEAS NEVER HAPPEN
It is a shame that countless ideas with the potential to transform
our lives--concepts for new drug discoveries, models for new
businesses, inklings for musical masterpieces, sketches for iconic
pieces of art--are conceived and squandered in the hands of creative
geniuses every day. The ideas that move industries forward are not
the result of tremendous creative insight but rather of masterful
stewardship. Yes, there is a method to the madness of turning an
idea into a reality--it's just not as romantic as you thought.
The Life and Death of Ideas
Creativity is the catalyst for brilliant accomplishments, but it is
also the greatest obstacle. If you examine the natural course of a
new idea--from conception to execution--you'll see that nearly all
new ideas die a premature death. If that seems far-fetched, just
consider the ideas that you have conceived on your own but never
implemented: a novel you wanted to write, a business project you
wanted to launch, a restaurant you wanted to open. For most of us
the list goes on and on. New ideas face an uphill battle from the
moment they are conceived.
The cynics might suggest that the death of most ideas is actually a
good thing. After all, from a day-to-day perspective, society
appears to thrive on conformity. The status quo is the oil in the
gears of society; it keeps us all happy and healthy. Even the
companies that preach innovation still need to satisfy existing
customers, meet their earnings targets, and keep the lights on. To a
degree, the natural immune system that extinguishes new ideas in big
companies is essential. After all, fresh ideas have the potential to
take us off course; they are seldom economical (at first) and
introduce tremendous risk to a finely tuned system. So it is with
good reason that every new idea faces a battery of external
obstacles before it even has a chance of materializing. Sadly, these
obstacles don't discriminate between good and bad ideas.
Even more powerful than the obstacles around us, however, are the
obstacles within us. The most potent forces that kill off new ideas
are our own limitations. Time is very limited, and with the demands
of family, friends, work, and sleep, most ideas lose traction
immediately. If your idea survives the honeymoon period of
excitement, it may still be forgotten because you are probably the
only one who knows about it. Most ideas are born and lost in
isolation.
Even if you do possess the single-minded focus necessary to pursue a
particular idea, your journey forward will be full of battles.
Whether you work alone or with a team, you will become mired in the
challenge of staying productive, accountable, and in control. These
journeys are physically and psychologically exhausting, and the road
is littered with the carcasses of half-baked ideas that were
abandoned or surrendered along the way. It is a tragic truth that
most new ideas, despite their quality and importance, will never see
the light of day.
Fortunately, there's another side to this story. Across every
industry and in every creative pursuit, there are some people who
are consistently good at both generating and executing their ideas.
This book captures how they do it.
The Creative's Conundrum: At Odds with Our Very Essence
The prospect of making ideas happen carries with it a special
conundrum. The forces that help us be productive and execute our
ideas are often at odds with the very source of our ideas: our
creativity.
To get a sense of what it's like to live governed by our creative
side, look no further than Chad and Risa--two people I met early on
who suffered from many of the common ailments that plague creative
people.
A well-known production head at a top film studio was in despair as
he told me about Chad, one of the most gifted screenwriters he had
ever met. Chad spent his days and nights writing. He'd had a few
decent films, but he had written many more misses than hits and
cycled through more than a few agents. Chad checked his e-mail
"every week or so." Production executives and Chad's close friends
said the same thing: Chad is tough to get in touch with and is
extremely disorganized. He is unable to stay on top of his ideas,
some of which have the potential to fit into various projects.
"Plot twists come and leave my mind every day," Chad lamented to me.
As I talked to him about his struggle to stay organized, Chad grew
defensive. He reminded me that he was a writer, he loved his job,
and that writing was what he does best.
"Writing is chaos, and writing is my essence," Chad proclaimed.
But then Chad admitted wondering what benefits he might realize if
he got his "stuff in order."
A new approach to organization made all the difference. Chad needed
a system that would capture all of his fledgling ideas but also
channel his energy toward the projects that required action. A self-
proclaimed "technophobe," Chad created a paper-based system that
displayed the Action Steps for his most important projects in plain
sight. He stopped living his life at the mercy of Post-it notes and
trying to keep up with e-mail. Instead, he adopted a set of
principles and even a few rituals that made him focus on the
actionable aspects of his most important projects without abandoning
his creative process. After a full introduction to the Action
Method, you too will start to reconsider your own approach to
organization in personal and professional projects.
And now, a quick glimpse into Risa's life. As a student of human
behavior, philosophy enthusiast, and relentless thinker, Risa spent
years working on a new theory about the social development of
parentless children. While her ideas filled hundreds of pages of
notes, she had yet to pull the project together when I first met
her. She would only share her ideas with a few people and seldom
review her own writing, always preferring to tackle something new.
She didn't care much for feedback, but she would talk for hours
about the need for her work and the broad applicability of her
findings. Without a doubt, Risa was an extremely passionate and
talented woman.
Along the way, Risa had hopped from job to job. Her voice was
reduced to shaky disappointment as she tried to make sense of the
half-baked projects that had accumulated over the years. "Nothing
has happened yet for me," she admitted. Amidst a surplus of possible
excuses, Risa was unable to explain exactly what was stalling her
progress. She was failing to make any of her ideas happen.
MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN
Overcoming the Obstacles Between
Vision and Reality
by Scott Belsky (nonfiction)
Published by Portfolio
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
ISBN: 9781591843122
======================================
Specifically, we discovered that the most productive creative
individuals and teams have a lot in common when it comes to (1)
organization and relentless execution, (2) engaging peers and
leveraging communal forces, and (3) strategies for leading creative
pursuits. While many of us spend too much energy searching for the
next great idea, my research shows that we would be better served by
developing the capacity to make ideas happen--a capacity that
endures over time.
My hope is that the insights in this book will provide you with a
road map for building that capacity--and ultimately help more great
ideas gain traction. The era upon us is filled with problems and
opportunities that require fresh innovation like never before. Being
more efficient or cheaper is no longer enough to be competitive in a
global marketplace. We need to conceive new ideas to address the
problems and opportunities that surround us--and we need to defy the
odds and make these ideas actually happen.
This book was written with the creative person or team in mind--
people driven by deep interests and gifted with multiple ideas on
how to pursue them. But this book was not written merely for the
stereotypical "artist." John Maeda, president of the Rhode Island
School of Design, put it best: "I'm not for the notion of 'artistic'
or 'creative' meaning making a pretty picture. Every entrepreneur I
have ever met is an artist. They are all forced to become com-
fortable with failure. And for entrepreneurs, their canvas is their
company."
WHY MOST IDEAS NEVER HAPPEN
It is a shame that countless ideas with the potential to transform
our lives--concepts for new drug discoveries, models for new
businesses, inklings for musical masterpieces, sketches for iconic
pieces of art--are conceived and squandered in the hands of creative
geniuses every day. The ideas that move industries forward are not
the result of tremendous creative insight but rather of masterful
stewardship. Yes, there is a method to the madness of turning an
idea into a reality--it's just not as romantic as you thought.
The Life and Death of Ideas
Creativity is the catalyst for brilliant accomplishments, but it is
also the greatest obstacle. If you examine the natural course of a
new idea--from conception to execution--you'll see that nearly all
new ideas die a premature death. If that seems far-fetched, just
consider the ideas that you have conceived on your own but never
implemented: a novel you wanted to write, a business project you
wanted to launch, a restaurant you wanted to open. For most of us
the list goes on and on. New ideas face an uphill battle from the
moment they are conceived.
The cynics might suggest that the death of most ideas is actually a
good thing. After all, from a day-to-day perspective, society
appears to thrive on conformity. The status quo is the oil in the
gears of society; it keeps us all happy and healthy. Even the
companies that preach innovation still need to satisfy existing
customers, meet their earnings targets, and keep the lights on. To a
degree, the natural immune system that extinguishes new ideas in big
companies is essential. After all, fresh ideas have the potential to
take us off course; they are seldom economical (at first) and
introduce tremendous risk to a finely tuned system. So it is with
good reason that every new idea faces a battery of external
obstacles before it even has a chance of materializing. Sadly, these
obstacles don't discriminate between good and bad ideas.
Even more powerful than the obstacles around us, however, are the
obstacles within us. The most potent forces that kill off new ideas
are our own limitations. Time is very limited, and with the demands
of family, friends, work, and sleep, most ideas lose traction
immediately. If your idea survives the honeymoon period of
excitement, it may still be forgotten because you are probably the
only one who knows about it. Most ideas are born and lost in
isolation.
Even if you do possess the single-minded focus necessary to pursue a
particular idea, your journey forward will be full of battles.
Whether you work alone or with a team, you will become mired in the
challenge of staying productive, accountable, and in control. These
journeys are physically and psychologically exhausting, and the road
is littered with the carcasses of half-baked ideas that were
abandoned or surrendered along the way. It is a tragic truth that
most new ideas, despite their quality and importance, will never see
the light of day.
Fortunately, there's another side to this story. Across every
industry and in every creative pursuit, there are some people who
are consistently good at both generating and executing their ideas.
This book captures how they do it.
The Creative's Conundrum: At Odds with Our Very Essence
The prospect of making ideas happen carries with it a special
conundrum. The forces that help us be productive and execute our
ideas are often at odds with the very source of our ideas: our
creativity.
To get a sense of what it's like to live governed by our creative
side, look no further than Chad and Risa--two people I met early on
who suffered from many of the common ailments that plague creative
people.
A well-known production head at a top film studio was in despair as
he told me about Chad, one of the most gifted screenwriters he had
ever met. Chad spent his days and nights writing. He'd had a few
decent films, but he had written many more misses than hits and
cycled through more than a few agents. Chad checked his e-mail
"every week or so." Production executives and Chad's close friends
said the same thing: Chad is tough to get in touch with and is
extremely disorganized. He is unable to stay on top of his ideas,
some of which have the potential to fit into various projects.
"Plot twists come and leave my mind every day," Chad lamented to me.
As I talked to him about his struggle to stay organized, Chad grew
defensive. He reminded me that he was a writer, he loved his job,
and that writing was what he does best.
"Writing is chaos, and writing is my essence," Chad proclaimed.
But then Chad admitted wondering what benefits he might realize if
he got his "stuff in order."
A new approach to organization made all the difference. Chad needed
a system that would capture all of his fledgling ideas but also
channel his energy toward the projects that required action. A self-
proclaimed "technophobe," Chad created a paper-based system that
displayed the Action Steps for his most important projects in plain
sight. He stopped living his life at the mercy of Post-it notes and
trying to keep up with e-mail. Instead, he adopted a set of
principles and even a few rituals that made him focus on the
actionable aspects of his most important projects without abandoning
his creative process. After a full introduction to the Action
Method, you too will start to reconsider your own approach to
organization in personal and professional projects.
And now, a quick glimpse into Risa's life. As a student of human
behavior, philosophy enthusiast, and relentless thinker, Risa spent
years working on a new theory about the social development of
parentless children. While her ideas filled hundreds of pages of
notes, she had yet to pull the project together when I first met
her. She would only share her ideas with a few people and seldom
review her own writing, always preferring to tackle something new.
She didn't care much for feedback, but she would talk for hours
about the need for her work and the broad applicability of her
findings. Without a doubt, Risa was an extremely passionate and
talented woman.
Along the way, Risa had hopped from job to job. Her voice was
reduced to shaky disappointment as she tried to make sense of the
half-baked projects that had accumulated over the years. "Nothing
has happened yet for me," she admitted. Amidst a surplus of possible
excuses, Risa was unable to explain exactly what was stalling her
progress. She was failing to make any of her ideas happen.
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