Your only idea is a bad idea

And it could be our undoing, if we let it.

We often hear ideas are worth little, and that it’s the execution that makes the difference. There’s a caveat:

• From many ideas, comes the best one. The bad ones are discarded. Even the good ones are discarded. Only the best one survives. If it ends up not being ‘best’ in practice, there’s always the second-best ones to try.
• From one idea, comes no competition. So you just proceed with it. You’ll be committed to it, driving it forward at any cost, because there’s no alternative. It’s either this, or…?

Teams doing meaningful work need choices. From “many ideas” comes choice. Vive les idées.