Skip to main content

where ideas die

How do leaders get the best ideas?  Years ago I learned that not all the best ideas originated with me.  That was a humbling experience — and one that has paid many dividends throughout the intervening years.

If you lead a team of people at work, are you getting the best ideas on the table?  More importantly, are you getting them into circulation?

I’ve learned through the years that there are guaranteed ways to dry up the well of ideas.

  • If every idea must be your idea, you are drying up the well.
  • If suggestions are criticized before analyzed, you are drying up the well.
  • If who gets the credit is an issue, you are drying up the well.
  • If it has to be done your way, you are drying up the well.
  • If ideas are asked for but never used, you are drying up the well.

What happens when the well runs dry?  Innovation stops.  Fear creeps in.  People lose interest.  Your best people drift away.

Keep the well primed and the ideas will flow.