Brilliant!

Ever wondered when you will be hit by the brilliant idea that no one has ever had before? Does such a thing as “the” brilliant groundbreaking idea really exist? Why is it that when you think you hold a breakthrough, you notice after some research that others had the same idea at the same time?

Well, as ideas are quite related to our environment, they scarcely are revolutionary or unique, most of the time they fall into one of the following categories:

• The logical consequence of existing needs and trends, or knowledge and technology: that’s the obviously next idea. Whether a new technology, a new application or a new product: it’s “in the air”, it’s been floating around for months. You’re probably not the first and only one to grasp it. And if it’s not thought of today, it sure will be thought of soon. That’s when you develop a new product in the greatest secret; you think you will be ahead of your competitors, and hey, here they are, launching the product at the same time! It happened to me quite often. You start blaming leaks from your ad agency, your suppliers, your staff. But you’re probably paranoid: if you thought it was the next thing, others probably thought the same. The most obvious example is fashion: you long to discover what the trendy designers will present on Paris’ catwalks, and discover they all opted for guns & roses… And the most striking example is Internet, a logical integration of telegraph/telephone/radio and computer technology, which initiated in its turn a wealth of new ideas. When you’re the first and fastest one to connect the pieces and bring it to reality: that’s when you hit the jackpot!

• The “now we’re ready” idea: already thought and discussed by many, but waiting for technology or market readiness to catch up. Who never dreamt of a palm/phone or a phone/palm long before the all in one were launched? Who never swore on digital imaging and video streaming limitations until quite recently? The Internet bubble was all about gaps in readiness both ways: technology with no markets or markets without the right technology; just as delayed deployment of 3G is about not having the proper devices to operate. Twenty years ago, I evaluated the French market for a “revolutionary” product: Sony’s Mavica. This camera enabled storage of digital images on a disquette, viewable on a PC. The survey pointed out two major shortcomings: PC penetration and behaviors. While VHS was the mirror image of audiotapes applied to motion, Mavica was something totally different that the market couldn’t possibly project using at that time. Well I recently read the Mavica had been launched a few years ago, and the storage medium is believe it or not… a floppy disk! Today, many conditions are gathered for the Internet to get to the next step with a new take-off both as a tool and a means of expression: penetration, bandwidth, ease of search and content generation. Whatever the market let’s periodically examine our drawers and recycle bins, they might be worth billions…

• A bad idea no one believes in, killed along the way by smart people as infeasible. That’s a real bad idea… or too early an idea, or an idea that people think will never be profitable… That's an idea Hugh McLoad advises you to go for, no matter what others say, if it's really what you believe in! … Maybe even one of Seth Godin’s Purple Cows: the remarkable idea no one wants to risk implementing because of short term views or because it involves too much change in behaviors and thinking, but yet, able to get you the reward you dreamt of if you implement it right…

Eventually this last idea falls back into one of the previous categories, unless you are a real genius! But gee, as all these great guys put it: you don’t need a revolutionary idea nor to be a genius to be successful! Right conjonction, right time, right determination and right marketing seem a pretty good mix.

Comments

[septembre]

Je me suis souvent pose cette question, sous un angle legerement different: sans parler d'idees destinees a de nouveaux biens de consommation, comment reussir l'exploit de creer une nouvelle esthetique? Qu'est-ce qui rend certains groupes, peintres, auteurs, revolutionnaires? Je suis en admiration devant ce talent d'etre *exactement* a l'endroit ou quelque chose qu'on ne connait pas encore est attendu. C'est encore plus fort que de repondre a un besoin, puisque ce besoin n'est au mieux pas formule, et au pire, il n'existe meme pas.

Je crois qu'il y a pour ca deux facons de proceder: la premiere consiste a materialiser ses intuitions, les ajuster et les adapter jusqu'a ce qu'il y ait adequation avec le reste du monde. La deuxieme facon de proceder est beaucoup plus hardie. Elle consiste a voir une conjonction astrale parmi le bruit ambiant, et la reveler pour qu'elle apparaisse comme une evidence.

[Hélène]

L'esthétique... Je suis fascinée, mais je ne sais pas en parler. C'est peut être ce que l'on saisit littéralement avec tous ses sens dans l'épaisseur de l'air.

Dans les deux cas, intuition ou révélation, il y a une vision et pas de hasard...

[Lauchlan Mackinnon]

Helene,

I put some thoughts on this topic at http://lauchlanmackinnon.blogspot.com/2007/03/5-types-of-ideas.html

Regards

Lauchlan Mackinnon

[Hélène]

Thank you for quoting my post Lauchlan. I sense your wrestles and questioning about which ideas were true breakthroughs in a few of your posts -top of mind from what I read last week: one of the HBR breakthrough ideas for 2007, and your review on the Tipping Point. This brings a couple of questions in the light of what I have exposed:
1. Who is the actual owner of an idea: the one who initiated it –but can we actually trace back to the “actual” origin?-, the one who matured and relayed it through time, the one who brought it last under the spotlights, who tipped it over, i.e. brought it beyond the tipping point = point of diffusion, or the one who implemented it… Or is this more of a collective process: not one person here and now, but several people involved through time and locations?… -Isn’t this actually what Open Source is all about…
2. Who is actually entitled to intellectual/industrial property? Knowing that ideas/innovations feed and mature one another, doesn’t a too rigid intellectual property law have an adverse effect on creation and innovation in the end?