Posted by Helen on Feb 12, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments

 

I was browsing LinkedIn this weekend, catching up on the news that LinkedIn suggested for me.  I came across a recent post from Richard Branson, and decided to pause and read the excerpt.  I mean, how can you pass up reading what Richard Branson has to say?  Here is the link to the post if you are interested in reading it yourself.

First of all, of course I wish I were one of those on the beach at Necker Island, surrounded by the warm weather, sipping a cool cocktail.    Moving beyond that small daydream, I re-focused on the message he was trying to convey in the post:  create conversations with people around you, anywhere, anytime.  Conversations generate ideas, and ideas evolve into innovation.  When I work with entrepreneurs I’ve been fortunate enough to be acquainted with, that’s what came through loud and clear as well.  They love to have conversations, and bounce ideas off of people who are willing to listen, at a coffee shop, at a family function, at a small get together.  In one sense, coming up with ideas is paramount to their survival, because there can be many failed concepts they cycle through before a potential success arises that allow them to take it to the next level.

Unlike the cash-strapped entrepreneurs that typically need to jump through hoops to turn their ideas into reality, Branson has the luxury of simply waving his hand and say, “make it so.”  I’m of course only guessing that’s what he does, because I have no idea if he waves his hand as such, or say “make it so”.   But, let’s not lose sight of the fact that he does personally generate ideas constantly, and continuously talks to people to field-validate his concepts.  Like anyone, many of his ideas hit a wall, but others emerge as clear winners.  Behaving like an entrepreneur, and innovate endlessly even when Virgin is already an established mega global conglomerate is what makes Branson and his empire so successful.

Coincidently, as I drove my daughter back to her apartment, she casually mentioned that whenever her supervisor finished the weekly meeting and the staff were ready to get back to work, he always said, “that’s all, let’s go play!”  I thought, that actually ties in nicely with generating excitement for innovation.  Who wouldn’t want to come up with new innovative ideas when he/she can treat work like a giant playground?

Now let’s go play, and innovate….