The process of birthing the new, challenging, or changing the status quo is emotionally tasking – you are tested. Also, you get to dance with your fears without guarantees that you would get it right the first, second, third, or nth time. It can be a maddening rollercoaster because, typically, innovators go through many bad ideas to find a good one.
Despite all the books, courses, research papers, TED talks, conferences, magazine articles, documentaries, etc., about how the innovation process works, it is still a struggle in practice because many professionals, entrepreneurs, and business leaders are yet to fully understand the power of bad ideas.
We are quick to cite that the inventor, Thomas Edison, failed a thousand times in the process of refining the light bulb, but are you ready to fail a thousand times to get a good idea? Are you prepared to go through the grueling process of moving through one bad idea after another to achieve a good one? Do you have what it takes to deal with failure at that scale for a prolonged period?
Generally, people hate failure because it can be socially costly – failure comes with ridicule, pain, mistreatment, being ostracized, even broken homes, etc., and brings a level of social hardship that can scare off those who think of embarking on the innovation journey. As you work through bad ideas to find the good one, society’s patience with you wanes in the process – it can be an unpleasant experience.
True innovators overcome the social stigma of failure by granting themselves the permission to make mistakes and fail. They understand that bad ideas are the door to innovation. This attitude strengthens and builds in them the emotional stamina required to deal with the levels of discomfort that come with continuous experimentation and no promise of immediate success. Here, permission means a complete surrender to the experimentation process that ensures they are not emotionally crippled by every failed attempt.
Many products and services that we now enjoy did not start in their current form. Innovators had to pivot as the process required. They embraced their failures and stepped through the new doors that emerged. True innovators get excited about bad ideas because they know that new dimensions would emerge in the process of trying them. Your next level is locked up in a few bad ideas, but are you willing to try? If you do, you may be pleasantly surprised. And yes, bad ideas unlock the future – accept it.
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