Be Brave. Be Effective. Be Original.
Let’s face it, relying on safe ideas to spur innovation, peak consumer interest and out-think the competition is one of the riskiest things a business and brand can do – especially in our post-pandemic environment and our Customer-in-Control world.
More specifically, safe ideas will not generate greater sales more economically. Safe ideas rarely make facts come alive in a fresh, memorable and persuasive way. They rarely make a single ad do the work of ten. They won’t elevate your business out of the muck and mired swamps of parity, nor will safe ideas make your brand more accepted, believed or relevant.
And yet, most business leaders and executives have an aversion to taking risk. Agreed, it always feels better to have a sure thing. Unfortunately, there are two inherent problems with this normal human desire…
1.) There is no such thing as a sure thing
2.) To be truly effective, risk cannot be avoided
If the above points are accepted as true, what can organizations due to change their reliance of playing it safe and the preferred business-as-usual? Business leaders need to begin creating culture of originality. One that rewards trying new things, pushing new ideas and even failing. This type of change is not easy and requires a strong commitment for the long-term viability of the business and your emplyees.
Create Originality.
To generate ideas that are effective, your teams must prioritize being original. And to do that, they must be able to step away from reality, because reality is what exists, reality is what has been done before. The new culture you are creating must collectively abandon the safe and secure.
Beware! Creating originality goes against the grain. It will push you and your leadership team beyond your comfort zones - and it should. It involves the art of persuasion and is difficult to formalize.
Most of all, it requires a search that will lead to places that are new and untried; for these are the areas where the biggest rewards await.