John Hunt in his new book, The Art of the Idea and How it Can Change Your Life, says:
“Expediency wins so often because the obvious is overlooked. If a new idea is worth anything, it should make everyone a little nervous. It will be tougher to sell. But these are all good signs.”
In our time-crunched busy world I find leaders too often settling for expedient. Ok, let me be honest, sometimes I settle for expedient.
Like most anything else in leadership and life, balance is called for. But the larger-than-life nugget to be found in this great thought is that sometimes . . .
- we as leaders must allow ourselves to be a bit nervous by the ideas of others
- we must be be willing to sell our ideas, even if it will be tougher
- we must help people see thiese things as good signs for both the idea and the organization
- and as leaders we must be vigilant for the times when this is necessary
If we want to support creativity and innovation in our organizations. If we want to coach others to be more creative. If we truly want new products, services and breakthroughs in our businesses, we must get past expediency.
Your leadership activity is to read this quotation once a day for the next week. And after reading it, ask yourself this question:
How are we letting expediency get in the way of a breakthrough today?
You can read other excerpts on this Fast Company slide show, you can see the very creative website for the book, and you can look forward to my review of the book – I just ordered my copy.
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