Unknown photographer
In advertising, there's a sacred rule of brainstorming. You know it, right?
“Never mix two stages: idea generation and idea selection.”
For a beginner, this is far from obvious. When you hear something new, your first instinct is to protect yourself from wasting time, money, and effort. Your mouth blurts out: “That's ridiculous!”
But this is a business where the biggest paydays go to Wow results. Which means you need Wow ideas. And those, unfortunately, look like total nonsense at the start.
Lose a couple of tenders after sleepless nights, and you quickly learn to appreciate the "wild" and the "absurd." It's just dumb to toss out dirt that might be hiding gold dust — or even a nugget.
You have to retrain yourself, painfully. You have to literally bite your tongue. But that is not enough. At the first stage, even “improving” an idea can kill it. ou need to master the art of watering what grows on its own.
Very few people can do this. That's why masters prefer to create alone, or with a trusted sparring partner. Or you need a seasoned "moderator" — someone mature enough to lift one person up and shut another one down.
But once the process kicks in, ideas pour out like a cornucopia. And here, like in that old fairy tale, you have to know when to shout: "Little pot, stop!" Because creativity is pure pleasure — and pleasure has no bottom.
Someone has to interrupt that pleasure and hold the line. The second stage — analyzing, selecting, and editing ideas — looks bloody, brutal, and clinical, like an operating room. It should.
These are two completely different ways of perceiving and relating to the world. Developing both in equal measure is hard. But at the very least, you need to respect and value that part of the process where you're weak and others are strong.
And most importantly — practice the rarest role of all: the guide in-between.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials here. Ready? Book your Catalyst session.