I heart ideas
Over a billion Valentine cards will be delivered today, unleashing their manufactured creativity to pump love into each uniquely receptive heart. This mission will be performed using all shapes and sizes–I received one that folds into a box of “Smoochies” cereal. Yet, despite the diverse array of cards available, not one of them will perfectly translate the language of love; each will impact the emotions of their intended reader.
Searching the catalogue of cards at Hallmark is like being airdropped into a foreign land without a native language. Time futilely passes in this disorientating place until one surrenders to the least wrong contrived message on display. I’m not suggesting that a Valentine card is an ineffective way to communicate love–trust me, get a card! Rather, these man-made messages represent a more symbolic gesture to communicate the unspeakable. Even a Babel Fish, I doubt could whisper the language of love. Love does not appeal to the ear but the heart; and, as such, the more concrete a definition one tries to spin around it, the more disconnected one becomes from it.
Like love, ideas are more emotional than tonal and require symbols, patterns, and stories to ensure that they are received in the least wrong way. It is often tempting to use analytics to propose ideas or share knowledge. Analytics, however, tightly define thoughts and speak the language of the mind–disconnecting the listener from the emotional lines of communication. Anecdotes are less concerned with defining and more concerned with connecting fundamentals and shared experiences; using stories is a more productive way to express ideas than using data, although, finding this productivity requires a creative and adaptive mind–even more important the bigger the idea.
There are few ideas bigger and more dependent on persuasion than business plans in need of venture capital. William Bygrave, an entrepreneurship professor at Babson College, says he generally advocates a “just do it” attitude to flesh out and implement business ideas. This attitude keeps entrepreneurs nimble in order to avoid getting stuck with a concept that may consume months analyzing and drafting but is ultimately flawed. While strong fundamentals are important to a successful business venture, the prospect of getting caught in a data funnel can be detrimental to the timing of the execution of an idea. Tom Kinnear, executive director of the entrepreneurial studies at the University of Michigan shares Bygrave’s perspective and believes that writing a business plan should not take more than three to four weeks.
In business, ideas require persuasions that appeal to the heart as well as the purse. Those that are most successful at getting an idea off the ground use images and stories that speak the experiential language of their audience. It’s not necessary to have a thick stack of analysis to justify an idea. For example, Tim Paterson, managing director of Arboretum Ventures, prefers a five to ten page PowerPoint than a lengthy business plan. In fact, Matt Coffin used a ten-page PowerPoint when pitching his idea, which later became LowerMyBills.com, to a group of investors.
When sharing ideas and knowledge, we should be Cupid’s apprentice and aim our arrows toward the heart and away from the detail-oriented mind. Stories and symbols provide the broad informational strokes necessary to accomplish this mission. Entering into an exchange of ideas with a Valentine card, a fist full of flowers, and box chocolates (metaphorically speaking of course) will help ensure that an idea is misunderstood least and that the passion found within an idea is courted or cast aside with the fairest consideration.