Idea Killers
Negativity is the serial killer of ideas. Negativity tries to sneak in through these phrases:
- Thats not our policy
- Your idea not in our budget
- We don’t have the manpower
- We don’t have the cash
- It will cost to much
- We have not done it that way before
- We can’t do that because it is different
- It’s not practical
- It’s not necessary
- It needs more study
- It’s not part of my job
- It’s not part of your job
- It’ can’t be tested
- It’s not our problem
- The decision makers wont go for it (@BenArment has taught me to never say no for other people.
- It’s hard to achieve
- It’s hard to develop
- It’s hard to monetize
- It’s hard to administer
- Why hasn’t someone else suggested it before?
- We should wait until we have more money
- We should wait until the economy gets better
- Has anyone else done this?
- Is it best practice?
Watch out for this Trojan attack on your ideas and creativity. As a leader, never allow these crutches to stand up in meetings. Ideas live in open spaces, and this type of talk is the attempt to box in, strangle, and suffocate your ideas. Search for solutions not problems. Reasons to win not reasons you can not win.
What are some of the idea killers you run across?
Man, that’s good stuff.
I once worked for a boss that would respond to ideas he didn’t really like with “I’ll think about it.” And then he would not talk about it again. I hated working for him because I felt very stifled.
This is good! One of my pet peeves is an idea killer. I try not to confuse critical thinking with negativity, but I don’t want an idea killed before it’s time.
Thanks
My favorite is… we’re not ready for that.
Or… we don’t have the skill to pull that off.
Your post encouraged me to “take a stab at it anyway
”. Thanks Stephen.
It’s too hard to ___________________ !
Blah blah blah!
This is good! It’s so great to identify these things so that you can quickly defuse them and move forward with your purpose. Consider this tweeted and retweeted. Thanks!
The thing is about ideas is that they usually need ‘completer finishers’ to do all the detail in order that the ideas are realized. I have great ideas but without a team around me of brilliantly gifted people who can make those ideas happen, (which usually involves stuff that I am useless at) the ideas will rarely see the light of day. This is one of the reasons why community is so important to God. Some people may be negative but they might be really good at detail! So, discover peoples gifts, enable them to capture the vision and let them strut their stuff! Ideas need to be articulated as compelling visions if you want people to buy in.