Idiot

March 12, 2008. By Peter Lloyd

Any idiot can kill a great creative idea. All it takes is the ability to recognize that the new idea is different. Like rejecting the Model T because it doesn't have a feed bag. Or poo-pooing any innovation just because it's different. We've been known to justify our distaste for the different with the ultimate authority.

"If God had wanted us to fly, he'd have given us wings."

To which, I answer, "Really? Then if God had wanted us to run around naked, we'd have been born that way?"

We hire people to sit on assembly lines, to watch identical parts, and to reject those that look different. That job must take a good deal of patience and concentration but not much higher-order thinking. On the other hand, it takes a real creative leader to recognize the germ of greatness in a half-baked notion. And to nurture that notion until its greatness is realized. Do you have what it takes?

Say you lived in the woods a few centuries ago. Your mate comes back to the cabin after answering nature's call and says, "I hate running out there in the cold. Why don't we bring the outhouse in the house?" Do you turn up your nose? Or do you recognize the inception of indoor plumbing?

Most great ideas, inventions, and innovations sound idiotic because they haven't been named yet. Wrap a clock on your arm? No way. Wear a Rolex? No problem.

The best way to keep your cattle from wandering off is to stab them with little nails. It's called barbed wire.

Would you give your money to a group of strangers who promise to give it back only if you die? What if I called it life insurance?

Just because it's different, doesn't mean it's doomed. On the contrary, the fact that's it's different is often the first sign that it just might be a great idea.

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest business problems.

Right Brain Workouts Explained

[MORE RIGHT BRAIN WORKOUTS]