Expectations

If you're into podcasts, check out NPR's Invisibilia. Lulu Miller and Alix Spiegel weave intriguing narratives about the hidden forces (e.g. emotions) which affect and shape our lives.

Expectation is one such topic, which Invisibilia covers quite beautifully under the guise of asking if blind people can see. (Spoiler alert, they can -- more often than not because they are expected to.)  

The point, related to idea people, is that expectations play a huge role in the degree to which you perceive yourself as an ideas person. And more importantly, the degree to which you pursue an ideas career and thrive in said career. One could argue that when it comes to ideas, expectations are everything. 

If we imagine ourselves or our organization as incapable of having ideas, then we won't. 

Likewise, if we imagine those around us as fully capable, they and our team will deliver. As Jack Foster puts it in "How To Get Ideas," under the chapter "Become Idea-Prone," 

"...for the most part the difference between people who crackle with ideas and those who don't has little to do with some innate ability to come up with ideas. It has to do with the belief that they can come up with ideas."

Conversely, as a manager or supporter or idea people, we must believe the same. We believe, we expect, our ideas people can. If we can instill a habit in our complete team that believes in and supports idea-making -- that expects idea people will indeed crack it -- then our ideas people will be more likely to succeed. We support this endeavor through insightful briefing, enough time to work, initial respect for ideas of all qualities, and an overall confidence from all quarters in our collective ability in nurturing and having ideas. As an organization, we know ours is an ideas business and we expect our teams will deliver. 

Now, the typical cultural risk that talks against this line of thinking is something akin to, "not all ideas are good ideas." Or that "not all ideas people are equal." Perhaps, but cynicism is poison to ideas. Best not to venture down that path. As Robert Grudin put it,

"to follow good ideas in spite of their forbidding strangeness all take a kind of courage."

Expectations take courage.

Ideas that matter are born from such conditions.

Expect them.