The Pinecone Principle (An Easier Way to Generate Great Ideas)
|
I’ve noticed something interesting about people who seem to effortlessly generate great ideas time and time again. It’s not that they’re more creative thinkers. They’re just better collectors. I call it the Pinecone Principle. Stay with me here. Imagine I asked you to bring me a pinecone. Like, right this second. You’d probably be a little confused at first, then you’d scan the room, check your pockets, and tell me, “Sorry friend, I don’t have a pinecone on me.” If you really wanted to be helpful, you’d try to think of the last place you saw a pinecone, and maybe you’d point me in the right direction. But still, I'd be pinecone-less. Now imagine a week ago I said, “Hey, I need some pinecones for my kid’s art project. If you see any this week, could you grab them for me?” In that case, I think two things would happen immediately. First, your brain would start noticing pinecones everywhere. On walks. By the mailbox. In shady corners of parking lots. Second, you might even go out of your way to visit places where pinecones might be. You’d gravitate towards pinecone-rich environments. You’d use my request as an excuse to take a walk over your lunch break, or to take your kids to the park after school. Well I think ideas work the same way. When we ask people, “Give me your best idea right now,” we’re essentially asking them to produce a pinecone on demand. Most people freeze. (This is why brainstorming meetings are often so painfully unproductive. You’re putting people on the spot and asking them to pull an idea from thin air). But when you say, “Between now and our next meeting, I want you to keep your eyes peeled for ___________.”, something different happens. People come back shocked by how many good ideas they had. Not because they suddenly became more creative, but because their brain was given a target, and it was given the time it needed to hit that target. Over the course of that week, people pay closer attention to their ideas. They write them down instead of throwing them out. The best part is, you get to choose the pinecone. You could say:
Whichever target you pick, your brain starts scanning for that pattern. The funny thing is, the pinecones were there all along. You didn’t manifest them. You just started paying attention. -Kyle P.S. Try this with your team this week: At the end of a meeting, give them this challenge: "Between now and next week, I want you to keep your eyes out for _________ and write down whatever comes to mind. Then bring those ideas to next week's meeting and we'll discuss them." You’ll get better input in seven days than you would in seven hours of forced brainstorming. |
Kyle Scheele
One useful idea about creative leadership, once a week
I’ve noticed something interesting about our society’s approach to creativity: we punish it in children and praise it in adults. When adults find creative solutions, they often get rewarded with praise, promotions, or new opportunities. But when children find creative solutions for things, they are often punished. This happened to me all the time as a kid. In high school, I once organized an impromptu fundraiser to buy a gorilla suit (it’s a long story). That afternoon, I got called down to...
They say that you should tackle your most important tasks at the beginning of each day. That way, if things go sideways later, you’ve already accomplished your biggest priority. Which is why, every morning since late 2021, I start my day with Wordle. If you’ve never played Wordle, here’s the gist: Each day, you have six chances to guess a five-letter word. After each guess, the game gives you three colors of feedback: GREY means the letter isn’t in the word. YELLOW means it’s in the word, but...
This week I had three speaking events in 28 hours on opposite sides of the country. Last week I did four events in four cities in five days. It’s the busy season for speakers, and the question I get a lot is, “What about work/life balance?” I love that question, because it allows me to share one of my favorite hot takes: Work/life balance is a myth. It doesn’t exist! At least, it doesn’t exist in the way I often hear people talk about it. People talk about work/life balance as if it is a...