What’s the Big Idea?

The iPhone

Toy Story

And the Motor Vehicle

These are all big ideas that have either changed the world, their respective industries, or both. The big ideas leading to their creations were found in ways far beyond just stumbling upon any simple idea. Steve Jobs did not let the team working on the iPhone bring anyone who had previously worked on a phone onto the project. He wanted outside thinking with outside input to help drive forward this big idea. The resulting product became one of the world’s most disruptive pieces of technology from a societal standpoint and changed the course of Apple as a corporation.

Pixar implemented radical organizational changes, including the “Braintrust” feedback mechanism. A culture centered entirely on a blatant push for improvement was formed. Toy Story was the result and changed the world of animation forever.

Henry Ford famously said that if people were asked what they wanted before the invention of the Model T automobile, they would have said they wanted a faster horse. Fast forward to today, and the automobile is now the main form of transportation for many people in the world, and a society without cars seems unimaginable.

Big ideas do not appear out of thin air. It takes iteration, feedback, creativity circles, and passion to bring a big idea into existence.

Forcing ourselves to the world gives us the most opportunity to find inspiration that may trigger a big idea. The big idea must be found; it does not simply appear.

By saying yes to new experiences and opportunities, we open ourselves up to the chance that we will find something where we then say no to everything else to pursue it. We must stop thinking that successes and huge breakthroughs happen overnight. There absolutely are instances of luck, such as being found by the right person, but luck does not create the big ideas.

Big ideas do not just appear; we find them through intentionality, experiences, and constant searches. The big idea comes from the collection of moments that have brought us to the exact moment where we currently are in our lives. Our next big idea is waiting for us just around the corner, or in 5 years, or at any random moment. Be prepared to say yes until the big idea makes it so easy to say no to everything else.