GlocalNet

Change comes one of two ways, one way through crisis - and that demands character as I wrote in my last blog - you need a Churchill or Lincoln, but change also comes through progress - or digress!  To handle that change requires innovation.  This would be an Edison, Gates, or Jobs.  A lot of people have great ideas - but great ideas are not enough - without execution those ideas will stay on the shelf.  Sooner or later, someone will execute them because some of those ideas come from the same observation or necessity that generates the idea.  The success of the idea is not the idea or the product, but the introduction and the execution of it.  That’s seen over and over again.  Sometimes an inferior product or idea wins out because of marketing or positioning.  So, when you have a hot idea - and I have tons of them - what have I learned about moving forward with an idea?

1.  See the big picture.  Where is everything going? Where does it fit? What is the value?  If you can’t understand it yourself, you’ll never be able to explain it to other people. 

2.  Bounce it off your confidants.  Tell them why, what, and how it matters.  Make sure some of them are strategic thinkers - they won’t say yes or no, but what they will do is make you ask questions that will lead to a conclusion. 

3.  Bounce it off a person in the field.  Know that they may have been working at it from a different angle for years.  They may push back, or they may go, “WOW,  we gotta do this!” 

4.  Test your idea in a controlled environment.  Don’t implement your idea big until you understand it and its effects as much as possible.  A controlled environment allows you to see things happen, develop, and prepare you for the unintended consequences of change. 

5.  Increase the breadth of your idea and begin to build tracks and systems for it to roll out.  Every idea has to have a way of moving from the head to the hand.  Engineers are vital at this point.  For those of us in religious and humanitarian work “social engineers” are critical.  I’m reading a book right now called “The Design of Business” by Roger Martin.  It’s about design thinking and how “mystery” or ideas progress.  As usual, this Harvard Business Press book is powerful. 

6.  Roll out your idea with those willing - not everyone.  If everyone becomes your goal, then you won’t see a lot.  You’ll be waiting forever.  I like what John Maxwell once said, “Move with the movers.”  They will bring the others around.

7.  Adjust.  This really is where some ideas can live or die.  A big idea and a little success can really prevent the willingness of the “idea generator” to change things - but they must if they want to move to the next level. 

8.  Finish it.  What makes exceptional leaders is not the amount of ideas they have - but how many they complete.  I love challenging young pastors who are church starters to think of themselves as church “finishers.”  We all love the ideas and starting something new but maturity and strength and impact is found in endurance and completion. 

I once met Bill Hybels and I asked him what he loved doing.  I was assuming it would be coming up with big ideas and tackling them.  He replied, “Taking my ideas down to granular levels and finishing them in the details.”  That was good for me to hear. 

KEEP THE IDEAS COMING -WE DESPERATELY NEED THEM IN THIS CONNECTED, CHANGING WORLD - but for God’s sake - and his glory - finish them!