As we continue this year down the road to recovery, it is apparent to most CEO's that new ideas and thinking need to be part of their plans to move through the existing minefield of finance.
I like Mark Twain's thoughts about ideas. He said presenting an idea and convincing people of its value is a lot like courtship. Easy does it. To avoid resistance, use an oblique, rather than a head-to-head, approach.
“Have you thought about this?” is a much better way to reveal your idea rather than a flat “This is the way it should be.” The latter approach is likely to create antagonism. The former gets people thinking about your idea. Next thing you know, some people may be arguing for your case, not against it.
Presenting your own objections or misgivings often helps.
“The best way to convince another,” Benjamin Franklin said, “is to state your case moderately and accurately. Then say of course you may be mistaken about it, which causes your listener to receive what you have to say and, like as not, turn about and convince you of it, since you are in doubt.”
His last thought was: “The person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
A couple of other quotes are appropriate here:
• “Great ideas need landing gear, as well as wings.”
• “A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn, it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.” Charlie Brower.
With good ideas comes both success and failure. Look at Thomas Edison.
He invented an astounding 1,093 things. He patented one idea a year to 65 years. That is a great number of inventions, but not all of his ideas caught on right away, or even at all.
It took him nearly 10,000 tries to successfully invent the incandescent light bulb. He always said he didn't consider them failures because he learned something each time he tried, bringing him closer to the finished product.
The philosopher Elbert Hubbard said it best: “There is no defeat except in no longer trying. There is no defeat save within, no really insurmountable barrier, save our own inherent weakness of purpose.”
I like Mark Twain's thoughts about ideas. He said presenting an idea and convincing people of its value is a lot like courtship. Easy does it. To avoid resistance, use an oblique, rather than a head-to-head, approach.
“Have you thought about this?” is a much better way to reveal your idea rather than a flat “This is the way it should be.” The latter approach is likely to create antagonism. The former gets people thinking about your idea. Next thing you know, some people may be arguing for your case, not against it.
Presenting your own objections or misgivings often helps.
“The best way to convince another,” Benjamin Franklin said, “is to state your case moderately and accurately. Then say of course you may be mistaken about it, which causes your listener to receive what you have to say and, like as not, turn about and convince you of it, since you are in doubt.”
His last thought was: “The person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
A couple of other quotes are appropriate here:
• “Great ideas need landing gear, as well as wings.”
• “A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn, it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.” Charlie Brower.
With good ideas comes both success and failure. Look at Thomas Edison.
He invented an astounding 1,093 things. He patented one idea a year to 65 years. That is a great number of inventions, but not all of his ideas caught on right away, or even at all.
It took him nearly 10,000 tries to successfully invent the incandescent light bulb. He always said he didn't consider them failures because he learned something each time he tried, bringing him closer to the finished product.
The philosopher Elbert Hubbard said it best: “There is no defeat except in no longer trying. There is no defeat save within, no really insurmountable barrier, save our own inherent weakness of purpose.”