Sunday
Oct072007
Design Your Ideas to Spread
Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 2:37PM 
So many great ideas and visions don't achieve their potential, simply because they don't spread fast or far enough. It's such a pity that we don't spend a little more time designing a structure for our concepts to give them legs.When Michaelangelo did the David sculpture, one of the most beautiful and enduring artworks of all time, he had to start with the right block of marble. The quality, size and colour had to be right before he even began. This is the vision part.
He then needed to remove all the excess marble on the block to reveal the form that he envisioned within it (what we know as the David). This is the design part.
When you have a great idea, first you need to find the right medium to communicate it with (whether a piece of marble, a business plan, or even a blog post). Then the art comes in revealing it's value in a way that's striking, memorable and spreadable.
As Antoine de Saint-Exupery said: "Perfection is not achieved when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away".
Reader Comments (13)
Short,sweet and on the nail, there's no shortage of "thinkers" out there, it's something we all do 24/7 to differing levels of success, though many times someone with less of a great idea achieves something great through immediate action.
Something I've noticed in myself and many others on a business level is the tendency to procrastinate with the excuse of perfecting the idea. I have seen quite a few business people hold off on making certain business moves for example because they just eg. haven't got their letterhead quite right. I have made this mistake myself recently with my website but when I decided to start approaching things with a just get something done attitude even though its a work in progress, it's been more effective than trying to think it do death and never do anything.
Sometimes action can be more valuable than excessive thought and bugs can be ironed out along the way. This is the approach many successful web 2.0 applications use and it works for many other things as well.
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TYFYC Nomad-One. That's what we call "rapid prototyping" and "perpetual beta". Important concepts to grasp in fast-changing markets.
A lot of great ideas sometimes fall short because they are not communicated in a way that would maximize their potential. It is important to know what audience you want to reach out to and what medium they are often exposed to. I love how you used the example of a sculpture to make a point. It makes things easier to understand.
Hi Dave,
Neish one to finally meet in person on PodCamp Cape Town, indeed.
About the right media to use. It's about using the right part of, and right media to use. I will share the following in this comment, I ll share the using the right part of each media aspect of this in our conversation about new media and word of mouth; my ultimate reinvented and no.1 medium. You will love it. Max got a good preview as well.
Talking about new ideas to spread, its nice to share a South African first with you that comes out of my own astonishment that once again we were the first.
I'd like to use your blog to give you the unique chance to have been the one blog that proved we laid claim to the first, and self updatable google earth map of a world cup.
We were the first internet/travel magazine to create a google earth map (according to Gearthblog last year). Now early this year we we're also the first ever (indeed) to create a google earth map for a World Cup, the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
Talking about innovative ideas: no one is thinking about the fact that in two years time every one will be using google earth (I started mapping the first locations in Cape Town 2,5 years ago..) every event will be marketed with a Google Earth place mark. Its the same as skype (I was user no. 27 in the netherlands 3-4 years ago) it takes some time for pioneers & marketeers to pick up, but we created a 2010 Google Earth Map with the host cities, airports close to them, stadiums, LOC office (try and find it on the net.... pfff....) and locations known to have been short listed to become fan parks...
Quite nice, especially to think that this map of place marks is updated automatically if you download it and save in your locations in Google Earth. Sound ok not?
Think of the journalists around the world wanting the latest news on 2010. There is 20,000 journalists here in 2010. how many are writing about it then world wide. Wouldn't they use this as a first source for news?
lazy journalism... just activate Google Earth and see if there's any 2010 news.
but imagine all entry points, vip parking, corporate villages, atm's, after parties, training grounds and fan parks on this map in a few years time. and then add the social & soccer related projects, together with the soccer academies, and unique locations.
That is what I call an African World Cup;
Surprise the World with Firsts.
And keep the African Warmth & Swing to welcome them.
Combining the first 2010 Google Earth Map of South Africa and soccer
With the Vuvuzela playing in the stadium.
Boy that's what I can an African World Cup...
Let's show the world.
We'll meet again soon.
Molo
Hi Dave. Nice analogy. I think the crux of your statement, though, is in the 2nd last paragraph, which is the tough part to address.
Here's a link to a Thought Leader post which starts to dig into this issue from a practical perspective -> http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/oncue/2007/11/08/“idea-distribution�-an-entrepreneurial-challenge/
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