I’ll answer this at the bottom. Don’t skip ahead, read all of it, it’s good.
Why in the world would I, a guy who teaches innovation, say ideas mean nothing?
To try and disrupt the all-too-common belief that innovation, transformation, and profit are all about ideas.
I’ve heard it said that “We live in an idea economy.” Bull. If that’s true, I should own a small country.
I’ve met too many people, presented for too many companies and organizations with great ideas and zero to show for them.
That’s because ideas mean nothing without execution.
Action. Do something with your idea.
Success is not what you think, it’s what you DO with what you think.
Would-be artists have unfinished song ideas, novels, and poems decaying in a file or drawer.
Would-be entrepreneurs have amazing business, product, and service ideas just waiting for their creator to grow the… nerve?… to take a chance.
And believe it or not, even corporations whom you’d think would step out and lead, who’s CEOs and leaders have read the books and heard the speakers (like me???) share the tools and motivations for innovation, action and profit… yes even they lack the… wherewithal (keeping it clean) to take action on a new idea.
For corporations the problem is often their culture, one that punishes mistakes instead of honoring them as an integral part of exactly EVERY success; a culture that operates from fear rather than abundance; a culture that would rather live in the past and rest on old successes than step out and shape the future.
All it takes is one or a few leaders with a scarcity mindset to stifle an entire organization.
For artists, entrepreneurs, and others with an idea it’s usually fear of failure, rejection or success. Or distractions they won’t learn to overcome. Or just laziness (which I’ve written about recently).
This gets to the heart of what I do. Everyone has an expertise, a passion and this is mine: I move groups and individuals from a scarcity mindset, to to an “idea-action-completion” mindset.
I confess, I have been guilty of each of these challenges, and… I have overcome each one of them.
The transformational human technologies I developed for changing have been shared with more than a thousand corporations and associations, including three of the four biggest companies in the world. The work, so trust me on this.
I’m not shooting down ideas… I love and live for ideas It’s just that we usually don’t need more ideas, we need more action.
So, to complete my opening statement:
The measure of your success in life is the measure of your ability to…
Complete things.
Action step: What is it you know you need to do? What have you thought about or even started but not completed? Do it now.
Please share this!
Live Truly, Truly Live,
Mike
