THINKING ABOUT IDEAS

Ideas motivate me.  I don't work well without a kind of guiding idea that intrigues me and that seems to me to be just right for the situation.

For me, an idea is not a vision, not a solution, not a plan, not a strategy.
It's a concept that keeps me going.  It spurs me to action to test the idea.
It's not grandiose, nor mundane.  

I see companies that are straining to get lean with no purpose but leaness.
I see companies trying to pump up everyday work with too grand an effort.
I see companies with no overall idea of what they want to do or be.

Creativity research shows that the same idea comes to people who are geographically and culturally different.  It happens in science research all the time.  Don't be blind to the idea that your company wants to have happen.
How?
-Notice repetition of issues
-Be quiet and listen
-Don't bat away "foolish" ideas
-Drive by yourself for an hour or so
-Visit where your work hits customers. Do this in depth for one week.
-Scan whether Internet or books or magazines for headlines only. Notice what catches your interest

You'll catch trends (design is in by the way) but that is not the purpose.
The point is to fill your brain so that your business instincts and intuition
have something to work with.

One I have in my mind is "simplify the business don't multiply products that need solutions for complexity".  There is a point where individuation of services and products leads only to fragmentation and chaos.  Just an idea. 'Just'?????