That is a terrible idea

Ideas are subjective things. They provoke emotions. Love or hate, usually.

If it’s a maybe then it’s probably not good enough. You really want ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

I like to think that my ideas are great. But some of them are terrible. Those are usually the best ones. It’s subjective, you see. Keep up.

Working in ideas is a strange pastime, but you have to remember that although daring people have hired you, they can become less risk-positive when presenting the results to their boss or to their board.

You can sit and laugh and enthuse about that great, daring idea. But they may phone you afterwards, saying ‘I think we should go with plan B’. It’s hardly an unusual occurrence.

For this reason, my initial consultations on ideas with a new client usually consist of two days of work and one page (or so) of ideas.

It could also result in me calling or emailing before deadline with a time sensitive yes/no idea for them to make a call on. Something that is reactive, but which needs working on and getting out there today. It’s usually a result of my mind working overtimes on ideas for them while reading the papers or listening to the news on the radio.

This work that needs a quick call is often the best/worst. Again, depending upon your opinion.

But it is certainly the sort of work that is most likely to get a reaction from the world at large. I’ve had ideas at lunchtime that were global headlines by teatime. But I have also heard no a lot of times.

We’ll never know how those ideas would have flown. But you can be pretty sure that at least one would have got someone fired. Maybe it could have been you…