# Making Ideas Happen
## Metadata
- Author:: [[Scott Belsky]]
- Full Title:: Making Ideas Happen
- Category: #books
## Highlights
> Creativity is the catalyst for brilliant accomplishments, but it is also the greatest obstacle. If you examine the natural course of a new idea—from conception to execution—you’ll see that nearly all new ideas die a premature death. ([Location 148](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=148))
> “Development and operations are fundamentally different burdens,” Ellenthal explained to me. “The gravitational pull over an operator is nearly impossible to escape. When faced with a choice of what to do next, what must be done today will always trump what might be developed for tomorrow.” In other words, there is a great tension between the urgent operational items with current projects that arise every day and the more important (but less timely) items that are liable to be perpetually postponed. ([Location 845](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=845))
> After years of writing about productivity and life hacks, Mann realized that the level of interruption increases in direct proportion to one’s level of availability. ([Location 907](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=907))
> Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. —Thomas Edison ([Location 944](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=944))
> Our energy and commitment—and thus a willingness to tolerate the sometimes painful process of execution—are naturally high only when an idea is first conceived. The honeymoon period quickly fades as Action Steps pile up and compete with our other ongoing commitments. Our ideas become less interesting as we realize the implied ([Location 950](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=950))
> responsibilities and sheer amount of work required to execute them. ([Location 953](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=953))
> The easiest and most seductive escape from the project plateau is the most dangerous one: a new idea. New ideas offer a quick return to the high energy and commitment zone, but they also cause us to lose focus. ([Location 953](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=953))
> Sometimes, to delay action even longer, we resort to bureaucracy. Bureaucracy was born out of the human desire for complete assurance before taking action. When we don’t want to take action, we find reasons to wait. We use “waiting” nicknames like “awaiting approval,” “following procedures,” “further research,” or “consensus building.” However, even when the next step is unclear, the best way to figure it out is to take some incremental action. Constant motion is the key to execution. ([Location 967](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=967))
> The truth is, creativity isn’t about wild talent as much as it’s about productivity. To find a few ideas that work, you need to try a lot that don’t. It’s a pure numbers game. —Robert Sutton, professor of management science and engineering, Stanford School of Engineering ([Location 971](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=971))
> For project management meetings, value should be measured with Action Steps. For cultural change meetings, value should be measured with a shared understanding. And for alignment and buy-in, value should be measured with a new level of understanding and consensus after the meeting that will help improve the team’s chemistry. ([Location 1089](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=1089))
> He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature. —Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson, August 13, 1813 ([Location 1575](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=1575))
> Steffen encourages leaders to send an e-mail to each person on their team—as well as to key clients—requesting a few feedback points for each participant under the headings START, STOP, and CONTINUE. Each recipient is asked to share a few things that each of their colleagues and clients should START, STOP, and CONTINUE doing. People then return their lists to the team’s leader (except for the feedback about the leader, which is redirected to someone else on the team). The points under each heading are aggregated to identify the larger trends: what are most people suggesting ([Location 1648](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=1648))
> The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said that you must “make yourself become who you are.” ([Location 2180](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2180))
> Managers instinctively measure work ethic with an eye on the clock. Measuring work by time spent working is seductive, because it’s easy and objective. But doing so defies the realities of the creative work flow and will ultimately damage morale. In reality, ideas are made to happen in spurts. The pressure of being required to sit at your desk until a certain time creates a factory-like culture that ignores a few basic laws of idea generation and human nature: (1) When the brain is tired, it doesn’t work well, (2) Idea generation happens on its own terms, and (3) When you feel forced to execute beyond your capacity, you begin to hate what you are doing. ([Location 2362](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2362))
> As you cultivate your team’s immune system, you will want to differentiate between skeptics and cynics. Cynics cling to their doubts and are often unwilling to move away from their convictions. By contrast, skeptics are willing to embrace something new—they are just wary and critical at first. Though they are often undervalued, skeptics are an essential component of a healthy team, and leaders should cultivate their respect and influence. ([Location 2402](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2402))
> Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. —President Dwight D. Eisenhower ([Location 2490](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2490))
> As British author A. A. Milne once said, “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience—well, that comes from poor judgment.” ([Location 2709](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2709))
> Francis Ford Coppola once quipped, “Art is partly being available to accidents that fall into your lap.” ([Location 2724](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2724))
> In Anne Lamott’s international best seller Bird by Bird, about the art of writing, she cites a quote by the award-winning American author E. L. Doctorow on what it is like to write a novel. “It’s like driving a car at night,” Doctorow proclaims. “You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” ([Location 2802](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2802))
# Making Ideas Happen
## Metadata
- Author:: [[Scott Belsky]]
- Full Title:: Making Ideas Happen
- Category: #books
## Highlights
> Creativity is the catalyst for brilliant accomplishments, but it is also the greatest obstacle. If you examine the natural course of a new idea—from conception to execution—you’ll see that nearly all new ideas die a premature death. ([Location 148](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=148))
> “Development and operations are fundamentally different burdens,” Ellenthal explained to me. “The gravitational pull over an operator is nearly impossible to escape. When faced with a choice of what to do next, what must be done today will always trump what might be developed for tomorrow.” In other words, there is a great tension between the urgent operational items with current projects that arise every day and the more important (but less timely) items that are liable to be perpetually postponed. ([Location 845](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=845))
> After years of writing about productivity and life hacks, Mann realized that the level of interruption increases in direct proportion to one’s level of availability. ([Location 907](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=907))
> Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. —Thomas Edison ([Location 944](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=944))
> Our energy and commitment—and thus a willingness to tolerate the sometimes painful process of execution—are naturally high only when an idea is first conceived. The honeymoon period quickly fades as Action Steps pile up and compete with our other ongoing commitments. Our ideas become less interesting as we realize the implied ([Location 950](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=950))
> responsibilities and sheer amount of work required to execute them. ([Location 953](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=953))
> The easiest and most seductive escape from the project plateau is the most dangerous one: a new idea. New ideas offer a quick return to the high energy and commitment zone, but they also cause us to lose focus. ([Location 953](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=953))
> Sometimes, to delay action even longer, we resort to bureaucracy. Bureaucracy was born out of the human desire for complete assurance before taking action. When we don’t want to take action, we find reasons to wait. We use “waiting” nicknames like “awaiting approval,” “following procedures,” “further research,” or “consensus building.” However, even when the next step is unclear, the best way to figure it out is to take some incremental action. Constant motion is the key to execution. ([Location 967](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=967))
> The truth is, creativity isn’t about wild talent as much as it’s about productivity. To find a few ideas that work, you need to try a lot that don’t. It’s a pure numbers game. —Robert Sutton, professor of management science and engineering, Stanford School of Engineering ([Location 971](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=971))
> For project management meetings, value should be measured with Action Steps. For cultural change meetings, value should be measured with a shared understanding. And for alignment and buy-in, value should be measured with a new level of understanding and consensus after the meeting that will help improve the team’s chemistry. ([Location 1089](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=1089))
> He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature. —Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson, August 13, 1813 ([Location 1575](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=1575))
> Steffen encourages leaders to send an e-mail to each person on their team—as well as to key clients—requesting a few feedback points for each participant under the headings START, STOP, and CONTINUE. Each recipient is asked to share a few things that each of their colleagues and clients should START, STOP, and CONTINUE doing. People then return their lists to the team’s leader (except for the feedback about the leader, which is redirected to someone else on the team). The points under each heading are aggregated to identify the larger trends: what are most people suggesting ([Location 1648](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=1648))
> The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said that you must “make yourself become who you are.” ([Location 2180](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2180))
> Managers instinctively measure work ethic with an eye on the clock. Measuring work by time spent working is seductive, because it’s easy and objective. But doing so defies the realities of the creative work flow and will ultimately damage morale. In reality, ideas are made to happen in spurts. The pressure of being required to sit at your desk until a certain time creates a factory-like culture that ignores a few basic laws of idea generation and human nature: (1) When the brain is tired, it doesn’t work well, (2) Idea generation happens on its own terms, and (3) When you feel forced to execute beyond your capacity, you begin to hate what you are doing. ([Location 2362](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2362))
> As you cultivate your team’s immune system, you will want to differentiate between skeptics and cynics. Cynics cling to their doubts and are often unwilling to move away from their convictions. By contrast, skeptics are willing to embrace something new—they are just wary and critical at first. Though they are often undervalued, skeptics are an essential component of a healthy team, and leaders should cultivate their respect and influence. ([Location 2402](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2402))
> Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. —President Dwight D. Eisenhower ([Location 2490](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2490))
> As British author A. A. Milne once said, “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience—well, that comes from poor judgment.” ([Location 2709](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2709))
> Francis Ford Coppola once quipped, “Art is partly being available to accidents that fall into your lap.” ([Location 2724](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2724))
> In Anne Lamott’s international best seller Bird by Bird, about the art of writing, she cites a quote by the award-winning American author E. L. Doctorow on what it is like to write a novel. “It’s like driving a car at night,” Doctorow proclaims. “You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” ([Location 2802](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B003NX75W2&location=2802))