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| How to Turn Crazy Ideas into Reality |
How to Turn Crazy Ideas into Reality. Crazy ideas are very fragile at first, therefore they need to be cared for properly in order to make a big contribution to the company.
This time I will discuss the book Loonshots by Safi Bahcall. This book discusses how to turn crazy ideas into extraordinary results.
Everyone reacts differently when they hear a seemingly absurd idea. The reactions that generally arise are, frown, flatly refuse, or even accept crazy ideas as a need to survive.
To change the world, there will always be crazy ideas that are initially rejected by everyone, until finally after being proven successful, then being praised for their genius. People's responses vary because crazy ideas usually contradict conventional thinking and it is difficult to predict what the outcome will be.
What needs to be understood, for every idea that can change the world, there must be hundreds if not thousands of ideas that do not work. However, a crazy idea that works is capable of winning wars, curing disease, and changing entire industries.
How to Turn Crazy Ideas into Reality, You Can Try
I summarize it into three important points from the book Loonshots by Safi Bahcall:
First, why are crazy ideas so hard to accept?
Innovation requires a lot of resources ranging from time, money, to long hard work. The greatest ideas have to fail many times before they finally succeed.
However many companies are not aware of this, the majority prefer to play it safe and try not to take big risks. However, not taking risks also has its own risks. Companies that fail to cultivate crazy ideas will eventually become sluggish and lose the battle.
So, what is the right way to encourage innovation? Many people think, it all depends on the culture of the company, but unfortunately that is not entirely true.
Nokia, for example. Nokia is a Finnish multinational company that enjoyed tremendous growth over the three decades between the 1970s and early 2000s. Nokia's innovations include the world's first cellular network, in-car telephones, all analog network telephones, and so on.
This innovation makes Nokia one of the most profitable businesses in Europe. Observers at the time attributed the company's success to the company's culture.
In 2004, the world of smartphones became more sophisticated, with touch screen phones with internet connections, sophisticated cameras, and places to download applications.
However, the latest smartphone innovations offered by engineers at Nokia were rejected by the management. Until finally, three years later, Steve Jobs launched the iPhone and Nokia was getting left behind.
What is wrong? Well, Nokia's structure has changed. These are changes that occur as companies get bigger.
For example, when the company is small, employees in the company usually have the freedom to be creative and realize ideas that might initially be considered crazy.
However, as the company grew bigger. Employees in the company, especially at the management level, are becoming more conservative. They are only tasked with protecting the part of the business that is already running.
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| How to Turn Crazy Ideas into Reality |
As a result, conservative management sees crazy ideas as too risky. In the end, companies become late in adopting new technologies and lose out on the competition.
Second, crazy ideas are not enough
The innovator is often seen as a lonely genius. They are thought to do it all alone in translating brilliant visions into reality.
The truth is, innovators need someone to fight for their work. The business owner or leader must behave like a conscientious gardener. So, we have to make sure that crazy ideas are cared for so they can take root and thrive.
There are some fundamental principles that we can apply:
First, protect the people responsible for high-risk early-stage ideas. Safi categorizes people like this as artists.
We have to protect artists from the type of people Safi calls soldiers, they are the ones who are responsible for managing a successful part of the business.
Crazy ideas at the start usually require a lot of tweaking and development, this is very hard for an soldier type person to see. They want ideas that are clear and can be implemented quickly. If not protected from the start, then the crazy idea will tend to die before it develops.
For example, if a film studio thinks too conservatively, then they will not dare to take care of the plans for the movie The Adventures of Luke Star killer which is the prototype of the Star Wars movie series. Later, it went on to become one of the most famous movie franchises in history.
Second, artists and soldiers are equally important. This is a lesson Apple learned the hard way.
During his first stint at the company, Steve Jobs dubbed the employees working for the Mac project "pirates". In contrast, those who worked on the Apple II home computer project, were considered "ordinary Navy".
The tension between the two camps ended badly and made Steve lose his position. When he returned to Apple 12 years later, Steve reevaluated his approach to individual employees.
He eventually learned to embrace artist-type employees like Jony Ive, who was the designer behind the iPhone, and army-type employees like Tim Cook, whose job it was to keep the company financially healthy.
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Third, act as a bridge between artists and soldiers. A leader is in charge of making sure crazy ideas can be tackled and then can be implemented into the real world.
There is an interesting example. When the first aircraft radars were created during the war, pilots ignored the innovation. The reason? Early versions of the radar box were too complex to be used in aerial combat.
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| How to Turn Crazy Ideas into Reality |
The project leader at the time heard the feedback and did a redesign. The result is simpler and easier to use for pilots.
Third, Responsive in the face of change
As discussed earlier, if a company is too conservative in accepting crazy ideas, this also has a negative impact.
Well, it's the same if a company also adores a team that always gives crazy ideas. This turns out to also have a negative impact when the industrial landscape has changed.
Few companies in the history of US business have relied heavily on innovative products such as the Pan Am airline.
Founded by JT Trippe in the 1920s, Pan Am started as a charter service that flew wealthy couples from New York to Long Island. The products they offer are quite successful and make Pan Am one of the most influential companies.
In the 1960s, Pan Am launched Jet Age which was the beginning of the era of low-cost mass aviation and became the largest airline in the world.
But unfortunately, in 1987, the United States government deregulated the aviation industry. For 50 years, the prices of everything on planes from seats to drinks have been monitored by central authorities.
Now, the price is left free and the market sets the rate. Pan Am was soon surrounded by competitors who could offer cheaper tickets and pay their workers far less than required by contracts signed by Pan Am before the new regulations were issued.
Pan Am has the best jets, but no one wants to fly with them because of their uncompetitive prices. Until finally, in 1991, the company went bankrupt.
Closing
That's what I wrote about How to Turn Crazy Ideas into Reality, A leader must be able to take care of crazy ideas so that they can develop and finally be realized in the real world. This requires courage and strong business intuition in choosing which crazy ideas are likely to succeed.
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