So you want a big idea…

I suddenly ran into an interesting post by Steve Sammartino about ideas. Steve argues that there is no such thing as a big idea; all ideas are the same size. He goes on to explain that only once an idea has been executed and proven successful that it becomes big.

He continues

…The ideas that worked didn’t have an advantage over the other ideas. They we’re all equal, but maybe other stuff happened to that idea. Maybe we nurtured it, maybe we believed in it, maybe we developed it better, maybe we tried a bit harder, maybe kept pushing it, maybe we modified it slightly, maybe we resisted the temptation to modify it…

I couldn’t agree more. I’m constantly coming up with new and often ridiculous (even to myself) ideas. But as Steve says, ideas exist only metaphysically and hence have no measure. An executed and proven idea can be defined as big, but the word ‘big’ defines the complexity of it’s execution and not the actual idea itself. All ideas are of the same ’size’ and thats why the nature and ‘magnitude’ of our ideas are varied and random.

So then how come some people launch extraordinary products, services? What makes a ‘Sir Richard Branson’. How do you produce a ‘Bill Gates’. How about another set of a ‘Larry Page and Sergey Brin’.

Its the mindset.

Entrepreneurs are dreamers. What is ridiculous to the average person is entirely feasible to them. Its the degree of their ability to dare, to risk, to persist, to modify, to improvise and to believe in themselves that makes all the difference not between just the entrepreneur and the common man but even the successful entrepreneur from the unsuccessful.

OK, so ideas are all the same size, but how do you get ideas of greater complexity?

You read several topics, you interact with a range of people, you participate in various activities and you talk about what you’ve learned to a range of people. You learn a (relatively) little about a lot of things.

You are a Jack of all trades; a master of some.

Now you have your complex ideas. How do you make it work?

You find and leverage people who have greater knowledge in the field where you lack it. You manage them well.

The richest and most successful people in the world aren’t the smartest; they are the ones who know the smartest and made them a part of their teams.

Dream on.