Page 57 - Free the Idea Monkey

the idea some time ago, and some day, you are Monkey Fact:
going to do something with it. Ideas are
easy
You are not alone, my partner in procras-
tination. Most everyone is guilty of this—even Only 1 out of 5,000
people who own and run innovation agencies. “big ideas” see

Speaking nonmetaphorically, I am a commercial success.
fisherman. Like most fishermen, I dream of
coming up with the next great fishing lure. I

carry around hundreds of different types of

lures because I never want to be caught without the latest, greatest

super bait. When it comes to fishing, I am “always prepared” and I

just assume every other former Boy Scout fisherman must behave

the same way.

About ten years ago on a freezing morning in the middle of

Canada, I noticed an annoying challenge with jigs. (Note to nonob-

sessed, nonfishermen: a jig is a simple, usually colored, weight with

a hook sticking out the back. You can add live bait or plastic worms

to the jig—whatever your fancy.)

Any fisherman who has used a jig has picked up one with the

line hole, the place where you attach your hook, completely painted

shut. It isn’t surprising. The jigs are mass produced and

painted the same way, so it isn’t a shock that some would

make their way into stores with the hole where the hook

is supposed to go painted over.

On that freezing cold morning in Canada, I saw it

as a huge problem waiting for an invention. And so the

EyeOpener™ was born. This crafty little invention

promised to save thousands of ex-Boy Scout fishermen

around the world hundreds of hours by popping the paint

right out of the eye of the jig.

I talked about it and I talked about it. I took friends

to coffee and asked if they thought it was a really big idea.

I protected the name, I drew up the mechanicals ... and then I didn’t

do a darn thing with it. Work, family and other more promising

ideas took precedence. It wasn’t exactly that I had abandoned it.

I would get around to it — someday.

42 CHANNELING THE MONKEY