Seven uncommon characteristics of transformative ideas
Image courtesy of Andy Hermawan on Unsplash
Every great innovation is ignited by the spark of a transformative idea. In leadership, without the capacity to create and imagine, it is difficult to respond to challenges, explore options and take decisions. In business, ideas increase capacity to control risk, inform the development of strategy, shape the targeting of resources and lead to the creation of new products.
Good ideas are not in short supply, but not every idea that has an impact, becomes transformative. This is because change leaves a footprint and the truest measure of a footprint is its sustainability. The heavier the foot strike, the deeper the print, the longer it lasts. By contrast, the lighter the foot strike, the shallower the print, the sooner it disappears. To be transformative therefore, an idea must be sustainable, but sustainability takes intentionality, careful timing and focused targeting.
In the ideas space, if you want to be transformative, it is simply not enough to have an active imagination or an agile mind, you need more. Stewards of transformative ideas are much more likely to think and act like brain surgeons than beauticians. This is because a brain surgeon is more concerned with the anatomy, whilst a beautician looks at the appearance. To that extent, a truly transformative idea is a product of applied science more than creative art.
But there is even more; the world of transformative thinking is not a place that you visit, it is one that you inhabit. It must be hard-wired into custom, practice, rhythm and routine. Now that the scene has been set, here are seven uncommon characteristics of transformative ideas.
1. The right to try and the permission to fail
For transformative thinking to be nurtured, a culture of experimentation has to be modelled by those in positions of influence and cascaded down to those in whose hands are the tools to remake things. This is particularly important because few will have the courage to step out of their comfort zone, without knowing that they are permitted to do so. Therefore, the right to experiment is worth little unless those who dare to try also have the permission to fail. Permitting failure is no more than recognising that the process of development, growth and opportunity is about learning and in order learn, you are bound to make mistakes.
2. Rise above the tide and break the sound barrier
The fact that ideas create noise is beyond dispute. However, that noise is even louder, in the formative stage of transformative ideas, when their newness and freshness attract the greatest curiosity. A bit like water, noise tests the buoyancy or integrity of an idea. Faced with the ‘noise’ of questioning and challenge, transformative ideas that lack robustness will take on too much ‘water’ and inevitably sink without trace. By contrast, transformative thinking that is informed by thoughtful reasoning and logic will likely remain buoyant, even under the intense pressure of sustained examination. If an idea can rise above the tide of noise below it and break the ceiling of sound above it, then it stands the chance of becoming truly transformative.
3. Magnetism and repulsion
Ideas are very much like magnets, in as much as they have the power to attract. The more attractive an idea, the stronger its power to draw others towards it. But here is the rub; just like a magnet, a transformative idea also has the power to repel. Therefore, being able to unpick and unpack the science of repulsion (what people don’t like about your idea) can often mean just as much as understanding the art of attraction (what people do like about your idea). The corollary of this is that actively cultivating an ‘balanced economy of opinion’, comprised as much of naysayers and negatives, as pragmatists and positives is essential to the success of every transformative idea.
4. Seasonality, acclimatisation, and response to stimuli
Decades ago, during a secondary school biology lesson, I learnt that ‘response to stimuli’ is one of the characteristics of living things. In a very practical sense, ideas (especially those that go on to become transformative) are living things and are affected in exactly the same way. Every idea will thrive within an optimum environment, but the challenge is what happens when that environment or climate changes, especially when those changes become highly unfavourable. Transformative ideas are ones that are comfortable in any climate or able to quickly adapt as conditions change around them. If you want to test the viability of a transformative idea, then introduce it to variability and adversity.
5. Suitability of landscape and topography
In war, no commander wants to give up an area of high elevation to their enemy. Nor would they choose to send mechanised forces into swamp land to be bogged down. Therefore, as part of their pre-war planning, military commanders will literally ‘read’ the battlefield terrain to assess the likelihood of success. The same broad principles apply to a transformative idea. This is because, by itself it is not enough to focus on what you are hoping to achieve, no matter how potentially transformative it may be. Of equal importance is where, when and how you plan to achieve it. Transformative change is about optimisation, but optimisation is a product of calculation.
6. Elasticity, travel time and domino effect
When it boils down to it, transformative ideas have the unique characteristics of durability, reach and influence. In other words, they leave a footprint, they affect the lives of a wide range of people and they often create a chain reaction in their wake. That’s right, the cumulative effects of transformative ideas are disruptive, impactful and game-changing. However, it is important to note that each idea is a unique entity in its own right and as such, careful consideration needs to be given to the sub-metrics of transformational value. Measures such as timeliness, audience diversity and sustainability, all speak to whether or not a good idea for today, is the best idea for tomorrow.
7. The ‘sixth sense’ test
The five physical senses of touch, hearing, smell, taste and sight are the essential standard for testing the viability of every idea. If the idea can pass whichever of these tests apply, then we can better understand how transformative it is likely to be. However, it is often the case that a truly transformative effect is determined by how well our idea measures up against our ‘sixth sense’. In simple terms, the ‘sixth sense’ is the reason over logic impulse that cannot be explained or described. It is when you know that you know, irrespective of what the evidence may be telling you. At times this ‘sixth sense’ is honed from years of experience, whilst at other times it is simply the strength of intuition and instinct in the moment.
In conclusion, a transformative idea is a multi-faceted construct. Often-times we miss the point of distinction and nuance with the transformative and in doing so, our idea fails to live up to its fullest potential. To produce ideas that become transformative, we need to recognise that the thinking that drives this, is the product of a state of mind, not a flash of genius. We also need to acknowledge that the status of being ‘transformative’ is a process as well as an outcome. Therefore, at a fundamental level it needs to feel right before it can look right.
