Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
This is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read, for me. It’s directed, the audience, is others like me – those dreamers out there. The people that have problems getting things excited because new ideas come so fast, they derail your energy.
One aspect that I’m big on is community, because I’ve not had that. So the concepts about community presented were particularly impacted me. One of the most important figures cited was: an MIT Study stated employees with the most extensive social networks are 7% more productive, and those with the most cohesive face-to-face networks were 30% more productive.
The book also presents the idea that there are three types of creative people:
• The Doer: These people are obsessed with the logistics of execution and they immerse themselves in the next steps until they love it, or discount it.
• The Dreamer: These people have eternal creativity, and are eternally challenged by it. Dreamers are fun to be around, but might forget the details of the project.
• The Instrumentalist: these people can play the role of both the doer and the dreamer. They can bask in idea generation, distill the action steps, and then push the idea into action with tenacity. They also tend to conceive and execute on too many ideas, because they can. Their projects are seldom pushed to realization, because they move on to another one and never get buy in from the community.
An effective team needs both a Dreamer and a Doer. “Developing meaningful partnerships will make you more effective.”
Another key idea from the book, is seeing your ideas executed for the benefit of the good of the community. If you have an idea that will save people time or make their lives easier or better, and you don’t have the resources or discipline to execute the idea, then not sharing that idea, so others might execute it can be seen as an integrity violation (if you value the greater good). By not sharing the idea, you are denying people access to it, and not seeking the betterment of the idea.
Ideas are quickly realized, and die quickly, unless they are kept at the top of the mind by something external – like community involvement. The book also presents the idea that you, as the ideator, have a responsibility to inform and engage those people who can play a crucial role in executing your ideas. If no one understands what you are doing, what you need to succeed or the value of your idea, then you will fail to execute the idea. If your community isn’t interested in your idea, you will fail.
Many of the concepts in this book have been presented in other books, blogs and even conversations I've had with other creatives. This book presents it the best, and it's high on my recomended non-fiction book list.
