Currencies for the future

Ideas are the currencies of the future.

There was a time when the battle cry in the business world was “Quality!”

This was the time when the movement of the manufacturing economy was towards product excellence and quality gave them a competitive edge.

And then the information age came with two young guys wearing denims and sporting pocket T’s working in their garage having the audacity to claim they will put a vent in the universe (and they actually did).

This ushers us to the age of information where personal computers become cheap and available, and in just a few years, the information highway led the world to the world wide web, and with faster processing power and increasing speed of technological advancements, you and I today are in a digital world where the battle cry for “Quality” has given way to shouts and screams for “Innovation” and “Creativity.”

This is the reason why ideas are the currencies of the future and we need to harness these ideas, utilize them, monetize them and through it grow our businesses.

While creativity and innovation are now popular management buzzwords in the work place, they do not come by easily.

Many people complain and say that their ideas are constantly shut down by their managers because of two reasons:

They don’t understand but they do not want to ask and learn.

The ideas do not come from them.

Others simply give up on offering ideas because of one blatant reason: their bosses steal their ideas and present them as their own and claim credit for the endeavor.

Ideas are integral to life. You and I are always at the mercy of our ideas. Have you ever encountered people who are wrong with their ideas? They are confident but are mistaken at the same time. Sometimes we defend our ideas to death even if they do not conform to reality.

Steve Jobs’ famous description of having “Reality Distortion” is good for him alone but not for you and me. He is Steve Jobs, this description ascribed to him becomes an admirable quality.

But as far as I know, there is only one Steve Jobs, and if you and I are in a field wherein our reality is distorted, we would be labeled as crazy at best and stupid at worst.

We pick up our ideas when we were young. Dallas Willard said, “You and I pick up ideas like a coat picks up flint” and he is right. Many stubborn managers pick up their leadership ideas from their former bosses who lived in the industrial civilization wherein the boss is always right even if it actually is otherwise.

And then they face the digital natives better known as Generation Y or the Millennials, and they enforce their last “century command and control” form of leadership and they drive the talents away. Others stay but refuse to generate ideas because of the nauseating atmosphere, which is not a good thing at all.

When you have business meetings, encourage dissent among ideas. Do not dominate the conversation. Let your people fight and argue over ideas. That is when creativity begins to fly.

Foster discontent in your team. Make them strive for better but not forgetting to recognize achievements. If they are good at creative ideas, ask them: “Now, how do we translate this into business or how do we become the best service providers?”

The fastest way to lose the effectiveness of your team is to sell them out. Once you sell them out, grabbing their ideas and making yourself pretty in front of your bosses, you lose your team and their creativity.

Every person wants his or her voice to be heard. This fact alone requires a deep commitment to allowing divergent opinions and an equally deep willingness to cultivate dissent and discontent within the team.

While on the surface this may seem to be a recipe for strife and frustrations, it really is the key to allowing your team to shape its collective voice over time. This allows for creative ideas to be expressed and heard.

Ideas are the currencies for the future, but only when there is a safe and fun environment.

And one more thing, ideas thrive only in business environments wherein meritocracy is the culture and contributions properly recognized and rewarded.

This is not only an ideal thing to do, it is the right thing that should be done.

(Start the New Year right with Francis Kong. Sign up to update and upgrade your leadership and life skills with his highly acclaimed “Level Up Leadership” workshop seminar Jan. 13-14 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at 09158055910or call 632-6310912 or 6310660 for details.)