Options

 A strategy that merely identifies a need is not a complete strategy. It must also include options for meeting the need. For example, you may know you need to lose weight, but walking around each day thinking “I need to lose ten pounds” is unlikely to get you to your goal. A better approach is to brainstorm a number of options for losing weight: eat less, stop eating carbs, run three times per week, sign up for a gym class that takes attendance – and then pick one or two of those options to initiate first. You will then attack your goal with clarity on what to pursue now and a backlog of options should those prove unfruitful.

So, how do you create more innovative, disruptive ideas?

It helps to recognize that ideas come out of conversations. When you are chatting with colleagues in the hallway, in formal brainstorming sessions, or in the informal banter that follows, you are continually creating (or suppressing) innovative ideas.

Any conversation you are in will be one of five kinds of conversations:

• You may be discussing what future you want. (Imagine)

• You may assess what issues to address. (Dissect)

• You may be brainstorming what options are available. (Expand)

• You may be deciding which options to pursue. (Analyze)

• Or you may be exploring how to get buy-in for the resulting ideas. (Sell)

To manage these well, you may want to read my book Outthink the Competition which goes into the process in detail. To get you started quickly, this tool walks you through the key steps for generating and prioritizing a list of potentiall breakthough ideas.