Ideas Ideas everywhere, but takes a lot to think: An insight.

It wont be an exaggeration, if I say that we all have had a foretaste of the present day scenario -a highly competitive era wherein in every fleeting second a novel idea is born and disrupts the conventional functioning of organizations. That incredibly small idea creates powerful ripples of industry-wide change and breaks the status-quo. Let me instantiate with the help of the avant-garde models of Amazon which challenged the time tested paradigm of brick-and-mortar prototype of Barnes and Noble, or Facebook which invigorated and radicalized the face of Social Networking as we know, or Apples path breaking innovative products which stressed on distinctive design and cutting edge technology. As is the case most of the times, these ideas will seem evident on retrospect and many of us are left wondering why most of the organizations failed to get a hold of such ideas, why is it that the already established companies, the crme de la crme have botched in identifying these changes in the existing business processes. Well in the late great Steve Jobs words, Its the innovation which makes the leader lead the follower. Biggest of endeavors start with a small idea, captured in a moment of introspection. The determination and belief to pursue and nurture the idea, to be able to create something worthwhile out of it requires lot of perseverance and labors. As the famous adage goes, nothing in this world comes for free, and its all these sacrifices and efforts in terms of time, money and toil invested which come to fruition when the idea materializes into a larger than life venture. Bringing the notion of ideas to the corporate realm, the companies need to be highly adaptable and weave in creativity and flexibility into the very fabric of the organization. Such an environment in the company would foster a culture of out-of-the-box thinking and resourcefulness. An organizations two most important stakeholders-employees

and customers should be given ample opportunity to communicate and share their thoughts about how the mundane business processes or its paraphernalia could be revitalized and reshaped. The structure of the company should be redesigned to embed the channels through which the potential break-through ideas could be communicated to the right people and the feasibility and scalability could be tested through small pilot runs. Without these channels these ideas get nipped in the bud itself even before they expand the wings to fly. The structure of the organization should empower the employees to work on the areas that interest them the most, and must be encouraged to be explorative rather than being puppets dancing to the preset tunes. In this vein, Google gives their employees 20% of time to work on the projects of their interests-and this simple tenet of liberty, gave birth to now world famous Gmail. The intention of the organization should be to provide adequate stimulus to the intellects, and well deserved recognition would not only inspire them, but will incite others in the pack as well to trail the tracks. The organization should engrave the Innovators DNA creating a universal foundation, a common parlance of originality which the employees would be aware of. Questioning, observing, experimenting and networking are the core elements which form the pillars of this structural change. The organizations could start by questioning the unquestionable, pushing the boundaries of the absolute. Creating intra-organizational communities dedicated for the purpose of experimenting and sharing the ideas, identifying the nascent yet burgeoning thoughts through such forums and rewarding and recognizing the intellectual and creative minds in the organization would cultivate the culture of creativity and at the same time break the shackles of monotonous toil.

Coupling the innovation-seeking employee culture with the synergy of high differentiation and customer oriented focus would channelize the ideas in the right direction. Ultimately it is the customer who seeks the products or services of the organization and what better than directly connecting with them to understand their feedback and suggestions. If anyone needs further corroboration on this, the rise of IKEA and demise of POLAROID should provide enough food for thought. Ideas dont work until you do; indeed!!! As someone has rightly said, small minds discuss money, average minds discuss business and Great minds discuss ideas.

So go; get and make the best out of the next tiny idea that stirs your mind. Happy thinking!!! Amen.