Chat with Cat: Stop Looking for Good Ideas

Photo by murielle.

The well-known marketing guru Seth Godin began a blog post some months back with these resonating words:

"Do you often find ideas that change everything in a windowless conference room, with bottled water on the side table and a circle of critics and skeptics wearing suits looking at you as the clock ticks down to the 60 minutes allocated for this meeting?

If not, then why do you keep looking for them there?"

I think he has a good point. It makes me think of that infamous Albert Einstein quote about how insanity is repeating the same actions time and time again while expecting new results. If we go into the same meeting every day/week/month/year and fail to get the desired outcome everytime, then why are we still doing it?

Now I'm sure Seth's point wasn't "you should take your meeting to a conference center," but I do think his point was to stop looking for good ideas. Like shooting stars, they appear when we're not focused on finding them. What else could you do as a group that might take your mind of the endless onslaught of your busy-ness?

You could do a team building session (a fun one!); a service project, such as a work day or a fundraiser; a recreational activity like hiking or rafting. You could just have a big, relaxed dinner with everyone in the office, to show them you value their contributions and their company.

But the budget's tight, you say? Think about how much you "spend" on your pointless meeting each week, and compare that to the "cost" of a special event, where some great idea might just appear. Might it be worth it?

Seth's post ends with these words, which I too will leave with you: "Have fun. Why not? It works."