Malcolm Gladwell spoke with fellow author Dan Pink about how to get good ideas. Gladwell’s advice: good ideas lead to more good ideas. He described it as a “family tree of ideas” where one is connected to another with the goal of having an old tree with a million branches instead of the struggle caused by starting a new tree.
One way to get more branches on that “tree” is through what Pink calls idea socialization. Contrary to the fear that sharing will lead to someone stealing your thoughts, Pink’s experience is that sharing will instead lead to more ideas as others build on your concept and take it further. It’s the classic stepping stone concept where one idea triggers an adjacent thought which spurs another, etc. Soon, your “tree” is blooming with more ideas than you could have generated on your own.
The authors referenced Tom Schelling’s quote: “No one, even the smartest man, can make a list of the things that haven’t occurred to him.” And so it is with ideas — many ways to enhance your concept are outside of your experiences. You need others to water your seed and help it grow. Don’t be shy with sharing.
