Creating Possibilities
Vancouver, B.C.
I am in Vancouver, B.C. this week working with one of my favorite start-up clients. One of the reasons for my visit was to brainstorm ideas for leveraging social media to maximize both adoption and utilization of some new payment technology that we are rolling out in the next few weeks. Exciting stuff.
I arrived in their offices with great enthusiasm. This team is filled with very sharp and knowledgeable individuals so the sky was the limit. Once the session got started, however, I realized we had a big problem. You see the Chief Technology Officer was “facilitating” but rather than simply being open to new ideas, he was critiquing ideas as soon as they were being uttered. He explained why this idea wouldn’t work, had sharp questions about others, and basically intimated anyone from coming up with an idea that didn’t fit his model of the world.
Of course anyone that has facilitated a brainstorming session knows that this is the wrong approach (I will be facilitating them in the future) but it was a powerful metaphor for what we do to ourselves every day.
In my case, the CTO is a very powerful rational voice in my head. My attorney mind. The pragmatist that can break every new idea into a million parts. The voice that discards ideas as “unrealistic” and “silly” as soon as they pop up. It ends, in other words, the discourse in my own head around what I can do, who I can be, and, in my business, which ideas will stick.
Much like the CTO in yesterday’s brainstorming session, the little voice is very smart. It makes great points. It is really good at putting thoughts and ideas into little boxes. But sometimes the only way to get to that amazing place that is truly yours, you have to start with seemingly unrealistic ideas and then go from there. Sometimes ridiculous thoughts are the stepping stones to magnificent outcomes.
So today I challenge myself and I challenge you to let ridiculous thoughts go. Let possibilities emerge and rather than measuring or judging, play with them. Let them flow and see where the stream of possibility takes you. And in the process you may be surprised to realize that you arrived at a place that neither you, nor your CTO, ever rationally imagined.
A stream of possibilities
Some people are afraid of paths they don’t know. Instead of saying..lets see where it goes, they shout it’s not the right way. Many times it is just their fear of letting go of control. I have been there myself, ‘it’s my way or the highway’ I lived under it and absorded it without really paying attention, thankfully I finally paid attention.
It is amazing sometimes how much fear there is, and how unwarrented it is.
Great blog..thanks for sharing..I love the way you think
Yes have to avoid the critical mind when trying to solve the “itch”. Tim Hurson show’s in his book Think Better, how the most absurd idea ends up being the idea that is the catalyst for the great idea. It is really important to give our minds freedom, think of as many ideas as possible and then when we are dry think of more. Actually, that is when it happens, when we are not thinking. “Imagination is greater than intelligence” Einstein.
I’m INFJ personality type, so my voice is my “judging” part, that part of me that is super-productive, makes lists, makes big/fast decisions, and helps me get *tons* of stuff done. But she also judges. People. Ideas. Dreams.
So a big thing for me is to get into my Intuitive-Feeling mode (which in many ways is the opposite), where anything is possible & everything is flowing and moving & I love & find the best in everyone. And that’s been my big adventure in the last 18 months, and where my *power* comes from.
But, that J side of me really does help me get stuff done.
Everyone comes from different perspectives. My experience has been that if someone says “it can not be done” or “that is a ridiculous idea”, that is usually the signal to investigate further.
The brain naturally wants to make sense of the world around it so it sticks info into nice boxes. This is also the basis of the American educational system that divides and conquers ideas into bite sized subjects. It’s how science often works too. Just like with our computers, we need to spend some time defragmenting our brains. Art and creativity are ways of doing this. And anything that reduces The Fear….
I’m a fan of “why not?” Brainstorming is all the ways we could do something, not all the ways we can’t. Yes, I could come to work naked. Now, I may be cold, I may be escorted out by security, I may spend time in jail for indecnet exposure, I might lose my job… or I could start a trend and everyone may decide to come to work naked. Hey, casual Fridays started somewhere!
One of my favorite things to do is be the outside facilitator for any kind of conversation that matters. We have a propensity to want to get to an actionable “answer” as quickly as possible – efficiency is still revered as the “right way”, and thinking together is not seen for many as being in meaningful action. So I think another little voice that gets in the way of effective brainstorming is impatience fueled by an “let’s just get on with this so we can DO something” attitude.
Thanks for the reminder to think ridiculous today. You also gave me the perfect quote to guide my day: “Sometimes ridiculous thoughts are the stepping stones to magnificent outcomes.
Feeling comfortable with being uncomfortable is so hard to learn. It means overcoming your fear of being wrong, of not knowing what to expect, of letting go of your illusion of control. Exciting stuff. You make great points in this post. We have all been the ones afraid at some point, so we can also find it in our hearts to forgive the CTOs we meet and to laugh with them, not at them. It takes some getting used to, but it is SO worth it.