Can you limit an idea's potential based on how you share it with others? I think you can.
By way of example, in an episode of a once-popular TV family sitcom, one of the daughters brought home her new fiancé. The fact they were engaged (and had been for months) was a complete surprise to her sitcom parents. The father, admonishing his daughter, compared the situation to serving an expensive piece of steak on a trashcan lid: she was taking something wonderful and desirable and ruining it through how it was presented.
The same thing happens to great ideas all the time.
We’ve become so dependent on email and chat platforms for communication that no one thinks anything of taking a new idea, burying it in an email with a non-descript subject line or dropping it into a chat, and sending it to others where it may rest among scores of unread or overlooked messages.
Even if the recipient does eventually read the email, an accurate understanding, interpretation, and any excitement about the idea depends solely on the recipient, not on your presentation of the idea.
Steps to Present Your Ideas for Engagement and Action
Instead of taking this easy (and typically fruitless) way out, here’s an alternative – actually present your ideas as you would pitch any creative concept in order to prompt engagement and action:
- Identify who can approve your idea
- Frame your pitch as simply as possible with the audience’s motivations and expectations in mind
- Practice and refine the pitch, augmenting it with any necessary support & identifying how you’ll counter challenges
- Pitch the idea with enthusiasm and be there to answer questions and clarify
Try this when you have an idea to share instead of passively emailing or chatting it to others. The process needn’t be overly complicated, and you’ll find yourself with a stake in so many more successfully implemented ideas. – Mike Brown
