The Importance of Stupid Ideas
Posted on August 28, 2007 - Filed Under On Ideation, Brainstorming Techniques
Stupid ideas are stupid. Right? Wrong. Granted, there are always instances where you look back and regret acting on a silly whim or drunken idea. But that’s the point. “Stupid” ideas are not at fault. It is acting on them that is.
Stupid ideas are fantastic because of their ability to lead us on the path to great ideas. One school of thought would have us celebrate them because they encourage ideation. The stark reality is that not every idea is going to be brilliant and to push your ideas beyond the conceptual boundaries of a problem, you have to think “stupid”. You have to ignore the rules that say that you MUST think a certain way about a problem. If Henry Ford had approached the problem of transportation with the same mindset of the time, we may very well be all driving around in horse drawn carriages.
For every good idea, you will have a hundred that will fail.
So my suggestion to you is this: the next time you are afraid to say something because you think it is a stupid idea, examine the context. Why is it a silly idea? Why won’t it work? And then question the mental barriers that you are using judging the concept. Can we find a way to make it work?
This allows you to break down a solution that may not normally be viable into workable and non-workable elements. You can then leverage the “workable” elements into inspiring a new idea in the same vein.
- Christian
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