In September, I had the privilege of attending a couple of sessions for Grand Rapids Tech Week. It was a wonderful week of technology professionals gathering to share about the craft.
One session especially stood out. The session was hosted by Mutually Human and the presenter discussed the impact of AI in organizations. The strange thing is, I walked away with a different thought.
I walked out of the session thinking about how we fall in love with our own ideas… and why that’s a bad thing.
3 Reasons To Not Fall In Love With Your Own Ideas
The presenter presented a PowerPoint slide that struck home. He was sharing how there are 3 lenses of innovation. Those three lenses?
- Business Viability
- Technical Feasibility
- User Desireability
To successfully implement and develop new products, organizations have to think of these three areas. The presenter stated:
Ensure that your idea is something users want, can be built with current technology, and makes business sense.
If this is the case, we cannot fall in love with our ideas. We can’t constantly keep going back to an idea simply because we like it.
If the idea doesn’t make sense, it shouldn’t be done. But it goes beyond that. There are 3 reasons not to fall in love with your own ideas. They are:
1. Your idea may not be what customers want:
What sounds great in our head doesn’t always equate to a great customer want or need. Think of all the books languishing on the bookstore shelves.
The author fell in love with the idea. They believed it could become a bestseller. Instead, the book fell flat. The customers didn’t want it.
Make sure you validate what the customer wants. Then give them what they want.
2. Someone else may have a better idea:
Far too many leaders will squash an excellent idea for their mediocre idea. They don’t want to admit their idea doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Whenever you have an idea, bring it to others. Ask them their thoughts and opinions. See if they have a similar idea or ways to improve upon your idea.
You may walk out of a meeting with an amalgamation of multiple ideas that are way better than your idea by itself.
3. Your idea can’t be done:
There have been plenty of ideas that I’ve tossed around in my mind. They may have even involved science fiction-based technology. Guess what? Those ideas were never brought to fruition. Why? Because the idea couldn’t be implemented with current technology.
We need to examine our ideas to determine if they are feasible with what we have, what we could obtain, or with help from others.
It’s hard to put an idea that we love to pasture when we feel it could have such a big impact. However, if the idea doesn’t pass the test of feasibility, someone has a better idea, or customers don’t want it, then you may have to set your idea aside.
Don’t worry. There are plenty of other ideas for you to chase. They’ll come to you when it is time for you to pursue them.
Just remember, don’t fall in love with your ideas.
