Here’s the scenario. You have an idea. You’re passionate about it. But the deeper you go into the intricacies and start socializing it with others, the more you start finding flaws, holes, and ultimately decide you’ve simply gone off your rocker.
Friends, this is a classic example of how you’ve invited conventional wisdom to dinner and it’s completely ruined your party. Conventional wisdom killed this cat.
The scary thing is, this happens a lot. And we need good ideas actualized. Badly.
So maybe we need to do something a little different. Silence this conventional wisdom party crasher.
Maybe call it the Silence Conventional Wisdom Manifesto?
I’m not sure, but here’s what I do know.
There are some pretty kick butt brands that ignored conventional wisdom and thank goodness they did.
Twitter: micro-blogging where users share tweets that are up to 140 characters? …And all to answer the question: what are you doing? At first launch it sounded pretty wacky. For many it still does. But hello, I think we can all agree it’s a game changer and for the good.
Lady Gaga: a meat suit? And not even for Halloween? The world would be a duller place without her.
Ben and Jerry’s: umm…these guys started selling ice cream in Burlington VT. Last time I checked, that’s pretty much a tundra. At first thought,
doens’t make me think of carrying an ice cream cone down the street, melted drippings freezing to my face creating edible icicles. That is, if I can even fit the cone through my tiny little breathing hole.
Southwest: super caffeinated stewardists? An identical fleet of planes? They’ve carried more US passengers than any other US airline carrier since 2006, so it’s clearly working…
Of course, conventional wisdom shouldn’t always be ignored. For example, it’s probably best form not to go streaking like Frank the Tank did through suburban neighborhoods in Old School leaving it to chance that your wife might drive by in a minivan with her friends.
But in other situations, going against the grain can be extremely invigorating and has the potential to make you highly successful.
Hey Lauren – Reminds me of the talk I attended last week with Patrick Ibarra where he talked about injecting innovation in government. An excerpt from my notes:
What Is Innovative Nowadays?
– Elvis, jet travel, TV remote control, email? They all were at one time! Now they are commonplace and integrated into our culture.
– What’s innovative now becomes commonplace eventually. The real question for everyone is: how quickly will you embrace ultimate reality?