“Don’t shy away from conflict, it’s an integral part of the evolution of an idea.  You idea must be able to withstand that conflict.”

–     Disney’s Imagineers in The Imagineering Way

If there’s no conflict in your team, around your ideas, in your day-to-day execution, then I bet there’s no passion and little progress.

A good friend of mine once said to his then-three-year-old daughter, “Great minds think alike!”  She replied, “No, Daddy.  Great minds think different!”

If we debate ideas, the debate is taking us somewhere special.  Because ideas are the currency of commerce.  And when the debate leads to a better idea, the dividends on the currency are truly “magical,” in deference to our “hosts” from Disney for this four-part DD series on “Creativity…”

“Invite the voices that never get heard.  The passion needs to come from everybody.”

–     Paul Comstock, Director of Landscape Design and Disney Imagineer

Susan Cain’s compelling book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking, is a long-form commentary on this concept from The Imagineering Way.  Creativity (along with productivity, efficiency and other worth-pursuing outcomes), it seems, is inclusive.

It’s not always (or often?) the loudest voice in the room that ought to be heard.  It’s rarely the most dominant voice that needs to be heard.  The harmony that comes when everyone sings their part, though, well, we’d all ought to by tickets to that performance.

Action verb:  Invite!  Invite the voices that never get heard.  Engage their passion (in their way) and make sure that the creativity isn’t forced on anyone — rather make sure it flows, effortlessly and contagiously, throughout the team.

“If you find your logic is talking you out of a good idea, question the logic first, then question the idea.”

–     Luc Mayrand, Disney Concept Designer in “The Imagineering Way”

It is much easier to question the idea.  Maybe the person who came up with it isn’t known as the sharpest knife in the drawer.  Maybe their last idea didn’t pan out.  I mean, heck, no one has any perspective on whether this new thing will even work, so why not question the idea itself?

Because ideas are the currency of commerce.

Logic has its place.  In the testing and validation process, logic gets its chance to play.  Everything in its time.

Which is why I love this quote from Disney’s Luc Mayrand so much.  Notice he doesn’t say we shouldn’t ever question the idea.  The idea here is that we question the logic first.

“What if?” questions are powerful, if change and difference making are our aspirations.  “What if the next generation wouldn’t even think in terms of cash?”  “What if a watch could do more than just tell time?”  “What if we never punted (Google “Pulaski Academy Never Punt” or copy and paste this link in to your browser:

bleacherreport.com/articles/1849595-high-school-coach-who-never-punts
Questioning the logic first extends the life of the idea, and ideas are the currency of commerce.

“Any one thing can move a company.  It’s the quality of the idea that counts.  I’ve been surprised how many times over the years little creative ideas have grown into something big.”

–     Michael Eisner

Ideas are the currency of commerce.  Not “a” currency.  The.

Too much of business today is based on analytics and data.  Those tools have their place, but you don’t serve a client base by being a robot.  Robots don’t have ideas, and ideas are the stuff that moves the needle.  No data or analysis suggested that human flight was possible, that virtually any of the major medical breakthroughs could be accomplished or that man could set foot on the moon.

Everything else matters only when ideas are the currency of record.

Somewhere along the way (I think it might have been my sister), a wise person gave me a copy of the book The Imagineering Way, a compilation of essays on creativity written by Disney’s “Imagineers.”  As The Heston Group begins this next chapter — and as you do in your life and your business — the realization that creativity — ideas — are the currency of commerce is True North for those of us intending to make a difference.

Eisner points out that the quality of the idea counts, and he’s right, of course.  In the meantime, let’s focus on quantity of ideas, to force the discipline of trading in the currency that will make a difference, for us, our clients and the people we love the most.

Patient: “Hey, Doc! It hurts when I do this.”

Doctor: “Then DON’T DO THAT!”

–     Weekly exchange on the ol’ TV show, “Hee Haw” (reprised from a 2012 post)

It’s that time of year, when so many do that thing they shouldn’t do — make New Year Resolutions.

So, let’s try a different angle.  Create a 2015 Not-To-Do List!

(Editor’s Note: This concept has been blatantly but, with credit, stolen from Rick Warren’s “Daily Hope” newsletter (available at www.purposedriven.com), and which I highly recommend).

Instead of picking 3, 5, 8 or 10 things we won’t do but should, let’s pick a few things that we already do but know we shouldn’t do – and then stop doing them.  It will be much easier than adopting a whole new habit, routine or commitment, and it’s likely to show even earlier and more permanent benefits.

Hmmmm, you’re wondering. “But, where to start?”

2015 THINGS NOT-TO-DO

1) “Reply all.” Almost never a good idea, nor is the “bcc” option.

2) E-mailing or texting instead of just picking up the phone or walking down the hall and having a conversation.

3) Worrying. (It just serves no purpose whatsoever in any instance.)

4) Trying to control that which we cannot. (First, it leads to worry. Second, it leads to failure. Blech!)

Let’s trick the system. Let’s decide not to do something, and then use that time to make a difference, instead!

The Heston Group is accepting new clients.  If you know someone who’s struggling with strategy, growth, succession planning, recruiting or any other key area of their business, have them click here!

“He knew right then he was too far from home…”

–  Lyric from Bob Seger’s 1978 record, “Hollywood Nights”

When we get too far from home, it’s important to remember that we don’t have transporters, circa Star Trek, and we don’t have a Delorean to take us back to 1985 (sorry, Bears fans…).  So, if we’re “too far from home,” we got there one step, one decision, one minute at a time.

One of our biggest challenges is snippet-tizing or categorizing too much of what we do, think and feel.

Instead of knowing right then that we’re too far from home, let’s commit to knowing right now if we’re on the right path.  It’ll help us stay there, and it’ll help us stay connected to the parts of us that make a difference, for ourselves and for others.

“Intent matters more than content.”

–     Steve Heston (hey!  I got quoted in the Daily Difference!  Suh-WEET!)

The Detroit Lions’ defensive tackle, Ndamukong Suh, got suspended for the Lions playoff game at Dallas next week, their first real shot at a playoff run in many years.  Dominic Raiola, the Lions’ center, was suspended for the game they played at Green Bay on Sunday.

Why?

Because they stomped on the legs of opponents?

Well, yes, sort of.  But primarily because they had bad intentions that went beyond their actions.  For Suh, we’ve lost count of how many times he’s run afoul of the “player safety” rules to count.  For Raiola, it was his sixth — you read that right, his sixth cheap-shot / player safety penalty since 2010.  If these were DUI’s, they’d be felons.  In fact, if this crap they pull happened on the street corner, they’d be felons.

So, maybe these guys are just fierce competitors?  Nope.  Maybe they’re just caught up in the moment?  Not buying it.  In order to do really bad things, whether it’s on the field of play or in business, you have to possess either suspect morals or you have to have bad intentions.  And when you have both — well, that says as much about your leaders — or you as a leader — as it does about the actions themselves.

The Lions have an opportunity, Players Association be damned.  They can own this problem and cut both of these losers, saying clearly that “crap like that ain’t gonna cut it here, not in the Ford family.”  Or, they can go on, being accurately labeled “dirty,” and floundering behind the guys that play the game hard, but clean.

There aren’t very many things that are complete deal breakers anymore.  Bad intentions will always be on that list.  And, if we see them, or experience them, we owe it to ourselves — and everyone else in the “arena” to call them out and take a stand.

“The self-selected are those who take action, the ones who participate, the ones who don’t go away.”

–     Roy H. Williams, in his Monday Morning Memo (www.mondaymorningmemo.com)

Roy’s is a site and a newsletter that I highly recommend.  (Thanks to Tim Suther for pointing me towards it…)

In one of my favorites from 2011, Roy cites E.W. Howe, who said, “When a friend is in trouble, don’t annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do.  Think up something appropriate and do it.”

Opportunism, momentum and second-chances are best cultivated by those who self-select.  Those who take action.  Who participate.  Those who refuse to go away.

“Forget “the customer is always right.”  Nobody is always right, and it’s not relevant that they’re right or wrong.  The customer must always feel heard.”

–     Danny Meyer, world renowned restauranteur, quoted in Delta’s Sky Magazine (12/14)

Granted I am a big fan of simplicity, but holy moly, does that get to the core of the issue, or what?  And not just the “customer right / wrong” issue, but dang near any issue.

How often is the real problem less a problem than the problem that stems from us not making the other party feel heard?

How often is our own attempt to formulate what we’ll say next the reason they don’t feel, or end up being heard?

How much of a difference would in make if we replaced the word “customer” with the word “person” and then focused on being absolute masters of craft when it comes to making them feel heard?

The Heston Group is accepting new client engagements.  If you know — or own — a company that is not hitting its full potential, we can help you do the right thing, the right way at the right time.  Click here to start the conversation!

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

–     Lyric from Semisonic’s “Closing Time”

Christmas night, we made the horrible mistake of watching “Noah,” the Russell Crowe “epic” adaptation of the story of Noah.

Um, hello?  Some stories don’t need adapting.  Ever.  This, and any other story from the Bible fall into the category of stories not to be monkeyed with.  And, while “Noah” jumped the tracks early and often, it was particularly awful at the end of the story.  (Technically, that’s not fair.  It was patently awful from the very beginning.  On the Grand Suckitude Scale, it was a 12-out-of-10!)

It got me thinking, though, most of our stories don’t end, even when we think they do.

Most of us celebrated the birth of a Savior on Thursday, and in a few months, many of us will celebrate His resurrection.  Either of those stories lend themselves to tidy “endings.”  Savior born — sinners saved.  Savior rises from dead — sinner-saving validated.

But, as far as endings go, not only are those two significant — they’re sorta lonely in the whole “finite endings” analysis.

Endings, it turns out, are few and far between.

Most of the time when we think something is over, something new is getting started — and as often as not, it’s something way more better.  (For those of you newer to the DD, “more better” is a technical term…)

What if we focused more time, attention and energy on the part of the story that is now — instead of worrying about how the story ends?  Because, in the grand scheme of things, we already know how the important stories end.  See paragraph #4 for fact checking.

But, don’t see “Noah,” ever.