What’s Missing?
In the first edition of this book there was a fifth truth: FUN IS FUNDAMENTAL. It pains me to remove it from this edition. However, no matter how hard I’ve tried, I’ve found no correlation between increasing levels of fun and the creation of more genuinely “big ideas” for growing a career or business.
There’s plenty of evidence that fun matters in “theoretical academic research.” However, when faced with real-life challenges, laughing is not a lubricant for productive creativity.
While fun doesn’t help with the creative process. Fun does help with the development journey. To contradict history—and change the world—requires energy to overcome the inevitable challenges that you’ll face during your adventure. Speaking from nearly 40 years of entrepreneurship experience I’ll tell you nothing builds energy like a sense of humor. And nothing kills energy like taking yourself too seriously.
So chill out, kick back, and enjoy the journey.
MUSIC BONUS: Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. To punctuate the point I’ve included a link to another Scott Johnson tune “Lighten Up There Boy”—it’s a tune that will help you chill out and set your mind straight. Before moving on click on it and give it a listen.
Visit http://www.doughall.com/JSYB2
4
IDEAS—THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
You’ve got your good ideas, your bad ideas and your mud ugly ideas. The question is, how do you tell them apart? How do you pick the nuggets from the gravel?
Let’s be honest. Most newborn ideas are ugly, wrinkly little wretches. If the newborn is your own, you’re liable to think it’s a thing of wonder and beauty. But it’s going to need a whole lotta nurturing before anyone else will think so. Because it’s not theirs.
As you go through life, you will decide the fates of thousands of newborn ideas. You’ll need to know which ideas are worth nurturing and which, frankly, aren’t. Most challenging is tapping those ideas that are really great, or “wicked good” as we say in Maine.
“Life is a bowl of cherries. It’s full of pits. Whether you control your life or it controls you depends in large measure on your ability to spit out the pits.’’
– Richard Saunders
FACT: Picking winners and losers becomes increasingly difficult the more unusual an idea is. The further removed an idea is from the confines of precedent, the more likely it is either to light up the sky or explode in a blaze of failure.
Greg, a successful inventor, wrote to me regarding his experiences with trying to separate the good from the bad and ugly of ideas.
“To date, I have had 10 of my inventions go worldwide, several national and many just fail completely because of timing, because of markets or because they were just bad ideas and I was blinded by my convictions. Over the years, I have made millions of dollars … and lost as much.”
To those who wonder why Greg didn’t just keep the millions and never risk again, he goes on to explain.
“To me, money is just a tool to allow me to work on another invention. That’s my motivator, not money.”
Here’s the data on good vs. bad. Each point on the chart represents customers’ perceptions of how interested they would be in purchasing a new product or service concept and how new and different they perceive the idea to be.
You can see that, with ideas that are seen as being really and truly new and different, they generate significantly greater and significantly lower purchase interest.
On the flip side, as an idea is less new and different, it moves more toward the essence of average. It becomes safe. Safe is fine for the brain dead; safe means they can’t screw up. It also means they can’t be great.
No Guts, No Glory!
Check out that chart again. It shows that when your idea is the same old same old, you have no chance. That’s NO CHANCE of being great!
This is true for new product concepts. It’s true for your career. And it’s true for your life.
Minor differences have minor impact. Dramatic differences have the potential to be GREAT, WORLD CLASS, SPECTACULAR!!!
The geniuses of creativity know this relationship.
Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas created two of the biggest box office hits of all time—Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Both rated high on the scale of new and different. Both took risks.
Spielberg and Lucas also created 1941 and Howard the Duck, two of the most legendary stinkeroos of all time. Again, both movies were new and different. Twenty years hence, Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark will be remembered. The other two will have been long forgotten.
NEW AND DIFFERENT GOOD VS. NEW AND DIFFERENT BAD
At the Eureka! Ranch, our focus is on the new and novel. As a result, we have a bi-polar research history. With most of our corporate clients, we’ve set records for both the best concept scores in their corporate histories and the worst.
You might suppose it would be easy to distinguish good from bad. The fact is, when you leave the world of the “known” and fully understood, it’s quite difficult.
Even now, I chase lots of wild geese. Let me tell you about two of my most embarrassing failures.
The first is Stinky the Pig. I believed in Stinky. I could have sworn Stinky was destined to become the Barbie of kiddie games. Stinky was a plastic pig that “swallowed” numerous foul items. Using a pair of electronic tweezers, players removed plastic rotten eggs, sweat socks and overripe bananas from Stinky’s innards before the timer ran out.
“But beware,” so said the hype that accompanied Stinky. “If you’re not careful, Stinky will let go a terrific ‘bart.’”
A “bart” was the powerful aroma that would emerge from Stinky’s backside. It’s what made Stinky new and different. Inside every Stinky was a can of aerosol methane that would be triggered when the timer ran out or a player touched Stinky’s sides when removing items from his digestive system. I spent thousands of dollars building models of Stinky and formulating various “bart” bouquets.
Stinky looked like this
But as an idea, Stinky stunk. I pitched Stinky to one toy company after another. No one would touch him. Indeed, Stinky and I were shown the door at Parker Brothers within seconds after the initial test blast from my prototype’s porcine hindquarters.
Toy companies were concerned parents might be reluctant to embrace Stinky and bring him into their homes. The toy companies had a point. Parents often will look the other way at a toy that’s gross or of questionable taste, but they draw the line at toys that smell up the house.
In an effort to soften the parental barrier, I tried a rosebud aroma. My hope was that parents would see Stinky as a new form of air freshener and that nine-year-old boys would consider a perfume smell equally distasteful and, ergo, appealing. My hope was dashed. In a research study, parents’ ratings improved, but kids ratings took a sudden steep dive.
I still believe in Stinky. I do. But Stinky will never earn his keep. Still, I keep thinking of ways he might become a reality. That’s how it is sometimes with newborn ideas. Your love blinds you to the realities of their market potential.
Then there was the time I aspired to revolutionize the hot dog business