(Cocktail Party At The Imperial Hotel: March 13, 1961 (Tokyo, Japan) via Jim Kuhn)
Good ideas can come from cocktail parties and coffee shops. Especially if the crowd has deep and diverse expertise and are experimental / action oriented. Unfortunately, lots of cocktail parties aren't like this. As a result, the ideas often suck.
Good ideas can come from spending time with the people in your organization and network, asking them what hunches they've cultivated and what support they need to try them. But most leaders don't invest the time to do this or have such a supportive mindset. As a result, people are left stewing and fermenting.
As an innovation leader, can you go to better cocktail parties? Can you do a better job of sourcing brilliance from people in your organization?
*This post was inspired by a great dinner last night with Dave Blanchard. The idea of "sourcing brilliance" was taught to me by Anese Cavanaugh.