Ideas are everywhere!

2012-02-29T00:10:00.000-08:00

To my way of thinking, “ideas are everywhere” is a brilliantlittle catchphrase. Like all good ideas, it’s extremely simple, easy toremember and yet very powerful in the potential it contains. At first glance itmight seem obvious that ideas are everywhere – at least until you need some… I heardthe phrase recently at a Winning Pitch High Growth Foundation master-class fromkeynote speaker Alexis Giles, New Business Development Principal at Google Inc.California. It was one of her ten top tips which you can see here in full at Winning Pitch MD John Leach’s blog: http://johnleachwp.wordpress.com/page/2/ I’m very grateful to Alexis forbringing this key little phrase into sharp focus for me and whenever I need newideas now I always think of this expression. By doing this I ensure that I consult far and wide, ask for as many opinionsas I can find and make a conscious effort to include even the “silliest” ideas beforearriving at the stage of narrowing down my options to enable me to take a keybusiness decision.

It seems to me that heeding the phrase “ideas are everywhere”can make your decision-making process inclusive, far-reaching and even, dare Isay it, more fun as it throws up all sorts of wacky ideas for yourconsideration! By consulting people you would not normally consider “ideaspotential” for your business you are thereby naturally making the whole processmore random. You are increasing your chances of coming up with something whichis left field, innovative and bold enough to make an impression on the market –all things which a good many of us either find difficult to do, can’t do or paysomeone else exorbitant sums of money to do for us!

So, why does the simple phrase “ideas are everywhere” work sowell both as a memory-jogger and as a kind of mini-mantra? Well, there’s a lotof precedent if you think about it, the most famous probably being “veni, vidi,vinci.” When it comes to oratory, Cicero apparently knew a thing or two and hereckoned doing things in threes was definitely the way to create impact. Iwould agree with him based on my findings over the years in all things businessrelated. That goes for whether it’s a phrase like “yes you can” (whispered toyour self before an important meeting to summon confidence and alter themind-set appropriately to induce the correct brain programming to take over) orwhether it’s a concept based around three elements as for example in design, asales pitch or a pleasingly balanced approach to displaying your businesscapability over the internet. Here’s a link to the website of a High Growthclient that I worked with last summer: http://sea-chem.co.uk/Look how strikingly they usegraphics and text in groups of three – check this out and I think you’ll agreeit’s very appealing visually and makes a very compelling case for the internetvisitor to enjoy and absorb.

By the way, I’m sure you will all have noticed how I’mpracticing what I preach in this blog post – I tried to make it interesting,entertaining and informative in three paragraphs – let’s hope I succeeded!

Another Place

2012-01-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

A few years ago Antony Gormley persuadedSefton Council to let him place 100 cast-iron figures along the foreshore atCrosby. I’m sure he wasn’t thinking about providing inspiration for businesspeople when he did that. But that’s certainly what he did for me when I took myfamily to visit Another Place this Christmas. What’s more, I think his statuesgive us a brilliant example of what value visiting “another place” can give. Indeedif you are someone battling to succeed in business then simply being in“another place” can be the key that unlocks your creativity, reveals a newangle or allows you to put an old problem into perspective…

As I see it there are at least 5major benefits you can enjoy if you take the trouble to visit any major sculpturein such a natural and often dramatic setting. You’ll probably have differentones and maybe even more but see what you think of mine. I hope my experiencecan help you to find your “other place”.

Here are my top 5 points:

· Inspirationcomes from just seeing things done very differently and in a remarkably boldway

· Sculptureslike these often provide more questions than answers and thus encourage you tokeep faith in a business process which often does the same and where answersare similarly hard to find

· Personalinterpretation is challenging and fosters original thought, steering you wellaway from the familiar patterns and ruts of everyday business thinking

· Communityand family values are enjoyed and reinforced in a shared experience which isnovel, memorable and therefore of lasting value

· Avigorous walk along a wind and rain swept coastline provides an excellentchance to live by the motto “a healthy mind in a healthy body”

I just hope when you visit AnotherPlace that the wind is blowing a little less vigorously since we managed tovisit on the windiest day of the year and consequently enjoyed a sand-blastingexperience too which will also not be forgotten easily!

Barnhill Marketing

Ideas are everywhere!

Another Place