Gini Nelson's Engaging Conflicts

I came across Michael Iva’s article 100 Ways to Kill a Concept: Why Most Ideas Get Shot Down at ChangeThis recently. It says:

So, you’ve got an idea. A big idea. But will your idea take flight? Not if you let your concept be killed by all the usual excuses you hear from your managers, your bosses, your spouses—excuses motivated by fear or possessiveness. In this wide-ranging manifesto, Iva offers you ways to persuade someone to embrace your idea, to not be swayed by negative responses, and to utilize your creativity.

Most people are afraid of or resistant to change and consequently, “kill” new concepts. Sometimes it is others’ concepts, sometimes it is their own. The “100 ways” are common responses to proposals for something new that can stop even considering them further, e.g., “It can’t be done”, That’s been done before”, “It’s not us”, “Yes, but”, etc.

The article is on creativity and how to get past the “100 ways”.

Michael proposes 14 principles to generate new concepts and then persuade others to act on them:

1. Everyone has to serve someone else to ultimately serve themselves.
2. The ideas that we ‘give’ (suggest) must be of interest to the receiver… before they notice, accept, or buy into our concept.
3. Never forget that ‘effective persuasion’ is the KEY resolve required to translate a sensible concept into reality (to make it happen). Ideas and concepts do not sell themselves.
4. The single greatest enemy of concept approval is the lack of ‘discernment’ on the part of those who evaluate and approve concepts, simply because true discernment is the ‘rarest talent’ in the world.
5. Idea people must silently ‘care’ and ‘not care’ at the same time.
6. It is easier to sell a sensible concept than a bogus concept. The best way to create a great concept is by conceptualizing and utilizing ‘CREATIVITY’.
   
7. Breakthroughs, innovation, and great ideas are often the children of mistakes.
8. Factor the following reality into ALL of your concepts and actions… people today are “time-poor” and “energy-drained”.
9. In most situations, when creating your concept and selling it, remember that being overly safe, is risky.
10. To paraphrase something the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once noted about truth, which often applies to selling a great concept, “A great concept passes through three stages when it is new: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
11. When a lot of people are involved in making a decision, there is a greater likelihood for CONFORMITY.
12. Utilize any form of LEVERAGE you can to help sell your concept.
13. In ALL cases, have the correct mindset to put yourself in a position, to give yourself an opportunity to prevail.
14. In my world of new product development and/or introductions, I know there are no maps to success, only guides.
    

Concerning creativity, he identifies 30 core principles of creativity including:

• Creativity not used is wasted. Creativity partially used is partially wasted. Creativity fully used is success beyond measure.
• To be creative, you must be yourself. Who you are. Your personality. Your point of view.
• Creativity is an art, NOT a science. No just means, not right now.
• When something, anything, is done well enough to elevate it to an art form… that is being creative.
• Creativity is a lot like gunpowder. It is comprised of benign elements that do nothing, until they are combined. Making something that never existed, come to life.
• Inquiring into the who, what, where, when, and why… is part of how the creative process is conducted.
• The mind can regulate, govern, and control billions of things in our bodies at any point in time; but the mind can only think about one thing at a time. Discipline and focus your mind to be more creative.
• There are two qualities that usually determine a creative person’s potential… curiosity and determination. The curious learn, grow, anddevelop potential. The determined have the resolve to overcome the obstacles they encounter on their way to fulfilling their potential.
• Try to become a creative person who understands human nature, psychology, sales, marketing, business, finance, distribution/logistics, and service. Be kind and nice along the way.
• You stop being creative when you stop doing the things that made you creative in the first place.

You can find the article at ChangeThis or download it by clicking here:100 Ways to Kill a Concept: Why Most Ideas Get Shot Down

His bio:

Michael Iva is President/Creative Director of qually & Company, Inc and quContent. An internationally renown new Product Launch Specialist, Designer, Writer, Lecturer, Professor, and Marketing expert who has helped to successfully position, reposition, or launch 128 new products and services (more than any other ‘individual’ practitioner in the u.S.A.), generating countless billions in profitable sales for major corporations around the world. Along the way, he has won over 600 awards for creativity from his industry and peers, and holds 4 US patents on his own new products. Iva is a professional creative person, who either launches and sells new product concepts of others Or generates new products and launches them for his own company. For more essays and insights, see Iva’s daily weblogs at http://adholes.com or at his website http://www.quallycompany.com.