Ideas make waves; and good questions tidal waves. So, it’s important not to doubt what you know to be true. Because you will make an impact… do not fear. Hold steady. Continue to share your ideas. Ask good questions. The life of your organization or relationship may depend on it.
Ideas are the lifeblood of any group or individual that wants to grow, but they still can cause ripples, and that can make people nervous. Even small ideas can rock someone’s boat, if not their world.
But, keep the ideas coming! Do not doubt their value or vitality. Without ideas, we all grow stagnant. Organizations and/or people who are not open to ideas—ever resistant to their flow, energy and potential—do not entertain the full future. They literally close themselves off from possibility. They narrow their window. They eventually cease moving forward simply because their view-finder is no longer wide enough to accommodate problems and would-be obstacles. They can’t envision a dynamic future because they closed themselves off to the flow of ideas (big, small, great, bad or otherwise); they thought they were in control, but now they’re more fearful than able; and so ideas become even more scary; and so it goes, until they die.
Ideas help us wrestle with the not-quite-yet, but possibly, maybe and What if? In other words, ideas engage head-on the intangible future as it affects the present.
Time is not static. We are in motion. Organizations are either growing, or contracting. People are either open to change, or closed. But change will come. And time moves us forward, through space. So the interplay of ideas—how to envision and respond to and interact with the future as we meet it in the present moment—is so important. The ideas of today equip us to live to our best tomorrow.
So, please, share ideas. Push through the resistance, find a new way (or place) to share if necessary. But don’t let people’s disengagement stop you from finding ways to engage successfully with the back-and-forth, wave-making nature of ideas.
And, while you’re at it, keep asking good questions. Those are the real game-changers.
If you can imagine…