Page 118 - Free the Idea Monkey

(often painful) self-assessment. Depending on
the scope and difficulty of the skill to be
learned, it will take months and probably years
to achieve a high level of proficiency or mas-
tery.” Said differently: practice will make you
a better Idea Monkey or a better (Ring)leader.
Even the most creative thinkers and managers
can improve themselves through intentional practices. In fact, learn-
ing how to implement simple approaches like these are often what
separates a brilliant thinker from a creative want-to-be. Really. At
first, you may feel silly, but I promise these ideas will work.

THREE NUGGETS OF SMARTS:
1. Once you have an idea you like, do not ask a committee
to agree that it is a good idea. If you do, everyone
will chime in with their small changes. The result?
The idea dies the death of 1,000 cuts. You’ll end up
with a milk toast idea dumbed-down to the point

where it will lack the impact that great ideas usually have.
2. Listen to seasoned experts? “Who the hell wants to hear

actors talk?” So said Harry Warner, one of the founders of the Warner
Brothers, in 1927 when someone suggested adding sound to films
would make them more appealing. Experts in your business aren’t
always experts. Instead, ask a professional “outside your jar.”

3. A counterintuitive rule about rules: Most believe that the
fewer rules that you have, the more innovative you can be. Actually,
in my experience, the more criteria you must
meet, the higher the likelihood of
success. This is because criteria come
from leaders who have to support your
(their) ideas.

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