Ideas Belong to Everyone and to No One

  

In a Fast Company article, author Leo Babauta describes the process of idea generation at Pixar Animation Studios.  “When Pixar artists create characters, it’s not a matter of one artist sketching out how he thinks a character should look. They all sit around a table, each drawing ideas, putting them in the middle, and others taking those ideas and riffing off them. Dozens and dozens of sketches come out from this process, until they find the one that works best. Everyone’s creativity builds on the creativity of everyone else.  Even if you don’t have a bunch of other geniuses to work with – find others who are creating cool things, and riff off them, and share your riffs.”  

 

This is a good description of how The Network-Oriented Workplace™ works, too.  Whether you’re trying to streamline the hiring process, invent new ways to work with vendors, or revamping your process of attracting new clients, it’s smart adopt the belief that ideas are abundant and spring up faster when you connect, converse, and collaborate with others.