IDEAS Abundance

In my training as an economist, the main underlying assumption is this: the efficient allocation of scarce resources. If you examine that assumption, you will see two parts; efficient allocation and scarce resources.

Efficient Allocation
To find the most optimal manner in which resources are being allocated, the main premise is this: As long as we are able to find the best return for the resources that we own, that would be the most efficient way. So, if you can offer eight hours of productive time a day, then you would offer that time to an employer who would pay you the most.

Of course whether you are always able to find the highest offer is the case of the "market" at work. You could know the best offer, but maybe the employer doesn't have a need for your services. Or worse, the employer is not convinced you are worth that much. Whatever the case is, we learn that the best returns can only be achieved when there is a double coincidence of wants.

Scarce Resources
The next part of the assumption has a presupposed assumption, scarce. Which tells us that there is only so much land, labor, capital for firms to utilize. As such, the more a resource is in demand, the higher return you can seek. All else being equal, if only you have the skills and/or tools that everyone else needs then you would be able to get the highest return for it.

In other words, going by these two parts you can already tell what kind of mentality most, if not all, economists have. Certainly it is not one of abundance. Meaning to say if you start a conversation with an economist, he will always be looking at the world through the lens of "not enough".

That said, a new group of economist who study "network economics" come to understand that there are resources that can never be depleted. In fact, the more people use that resource, the more valuable it becomes. An example is that of a fax machine. Now imagine if you are the only person on this planet that has a fax machine, who would you fax to and who can fax to you? Answer is zilt.

Now imagine you start making fax machines and give it away for free but charge for each fax sent and received, you can start expecting some revenue to roll in. But imagine now everyone wants a fax machine and not only do you charge them for using it, you now charge them for the machine itself, your revenue would increase astronomically!

Of course to enjoy such returns you must be the only one who either has the skills or the tools, or better still, both. So, unless you are Alexandra Graham Bell, you ain't gonna cut it. Or is it?

One thing that everyone has that is not only unlimited but also just because you have it doesn't mean I can't have it is "ideas". Everyone has ideas. Especially children. Just listen to them and you'd be amazed by the kind of ideas they have. Silly ideas? You think so?

Well, ideas are in abundance and ideas are also subjected to the laws stipulated by network economics. Therefore once you have asked your 5 WHYS about your goal and have used the 9 elements to define your goal, the next step is to tap into the source of unlimited ideas to work towards that goal.

What might be the best way to generate ideas, wacky ones and creative ones? One of the best ways, to me is to look at that goal from various perspectives. Let's say your goal is to "increase market share by 25 percent"; just by looking at your marketing channels, back-end, expansion, going to foreign markets, etc are already something you know.

Now, if you know that, do you think your competitors are any less dumb? I'd like to think not. Hence, one of the best ways to create ideas is to take these three steps.

First, set yourself a time limit to write as many ideas as you have (better still set a target of, say, I will have 50 ideas within 5 minutes). Reason is because then your critical mind is suspended. You don't have time to censor. Just write.

Now, step two is to see the goal from as many perspectives as possible, preferably nine. Reason? The human bring (or your conscious mind) can only process five plus minus two pieces of information at any point in time. Of course unless you are a pilot, otherwise nine would be a great stretch. Next time you are driving, count the number of things you have to take note of. It won't be more than seven. So, this is to tap into your subconscious mind, which is able to handle more information at any one point in time, then you can ever imagine.

Lastly, the third step is to look at your goal through the lens of someone from another industry totally not related to yours. For instance, in our work as consultants, we were looking for an innovative way to reach our client. After some brainstorming, we used the idea of a "trial" software as the solution for our innovative practice. And, like they say, the rest is history. As we become colored by our own assumptions about what can and cannot be done in our industry, we sometimes fail to explore new and creative ways that companies in other industries are doing. Much like how Dell has used the "pay-what-you-need" concept for their computers at the consumers front and the "just-in-time" concept for their back-end.

It is also interesting to note that once you have all these ideas, you will need to evaluate them and trim down to a few good ideas that you need to follow-through and then convert them into actionable tasks so that these ideas can be realized.

Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)