Quotable Leadership and Management Advice from Kleiner Perkins Partner, Randy Komisar

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The Paralysis of Ideas (and How to Avoid It)

Let me start by saying that despite what you're probably thinking given the title, I'm not against ideas. It's not a crime to have ideas. Ideas are important—critical, in fact—to business. Being able to rattle off new and innovative ways of looking at things, or being able to brainstorm a new use for your company's widget; those are massive, possibly even game changing ideas. But as noted (and oft quoted) author Seth Godin mentions, ideas are worthless. It's not that they don't have any value per se, it's just that it takes a person with a plan to turn that idea into something that is worthwhile.

In my time working in the trenches, I've seen the same theme emerge over and over again. I still see it today, though from a different perspective (typically as a consultant or hired contractor). In many cases, good people—motivated people—feel compelled or are instructed by managers to come up with ideas on how to solve a specific problem. And unfortunately, it rarely stops there. In an effort to make sure that no stone is left unturned, a brainstorm session is added to make sure that enough ideas have been generated to cover all of the bases. The employee is usually left with a list of ideas, some good, some not so good, to wade through and execute on. This is where I would encourage every manager to hit the pause button.

At the end of the day, the objective isn't to have ideas, right? Ideas by themselves don't pay the bills. The objective is to take those ideas and turn them into something. To achieve a result. Logically, if the budget for the executing on these ideas is a pie chart, the more ideas you add, the fewer resources you have for each idea, right? I've watched way too many companies operate using this type of shotgun approach—committing only a small fraction of their resources to a myriad of projects, none of which ever gain them anything significant.

My challenge to you is to try putting your eggs in one basket. Analyze, strategize—try to determine which idea is going to provide the largest gains (monetarily, market share, etc.—whatever your metric) and fully commit to it. The key is having the discipline to focus your efforts and only execute on the idea that promises the best outcome.

There's another advantage to focusing on a single idea. You're able to avoid what I've termed "The Paralysis of Ideas". This is where an employee, beset with a list of deliverables, is paralyzed into non-action by either an inability to decide where to start, or by the thought that there's another possibility out there that they didn't consider. Both situations are extremely defeating to employee morale and ultimately to the company's bottom line.

In many cases, the only wrong-action is inaction. Mistakes are inevitable, ideas are many.  Trust your own judgment, as well as the judgment of those that you've hired (you hired them for a reason after all). Focus, execute, evaluate. Repeat as often as possible until the desired outcome is achieved.

Have thoughts or comments on this post? Are you struggling with "The Paralysis of Ideas" in your company? Drop me a line in the comments area below. Thanks for reading.

—Jason @ Ideavise

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Spot Problems Early Using The Brown M&M Clause

My business partner and I try to "check" ourselves reguarly when it comes to the operational side of our business. Are we, as one author put it, "owning the job or owning the business"? It's easy to own the job; getting lost in the minutia of accounting, advertising, materials, office supplies, etc. One of the keys to success is recognizing early signals that something is amiss. You need to recognize the problem before you can solve the problem. This requires the power of observation, but it also takes some advance planning.

Consider the story below. I'd originally heard it many years ago, but found it worth passing along after Dan and Chip Heath used it in a recent article for Fast Company.

[Referring to the data that forwarns the collapse of a process] Your source of data doesn't need to be high tech. In fact, it doesn't even need to be numerical. Consider Van Halen. (We have been waiting years for a chance to write that sentence.) In its 1980s heyday, the band became notorious for a clause in its touring contract that demanded a bowl of M&Ms backstage, but with all the brown ones removed. The story is true -- confirmed by former lead singer David Lee Roth himself -- and it became the perfect, appalling symbol of rock-star-diva behavior.

Get ready to reverse your perception. Van Halen did dozens of shows every year, and at each venue, the band would show up with nine 18-wheelers full of gear. Because of the technical complexity, the band's standard contract with venues was thick and convoluted -- Roth, in his inimitable way, said in his autobiography that it read "like a version of the Chinese Yellow Pages." A typical "article" in the contract might say, "There will be 15 amperage voltage sockets at 20-foot spaces, evenly, providing 19 amperes."

Van Halen buried a special clause in the middle of the contract. It was called Article 126. It read, "There will be no brown M&Ms in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation." So when Roth would arrive at a new venue, he'd walk backstage and glance at the M&M bowl. If he saw a brown M&M, he'd demand a line check of the entire production. "Guaranteed you're going to arrive at a technical error," he wrote. "They didn't read the contract.... Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show."

In other words, Roth was no diva. He was an operations expert. He couldn't spend hours every night checking the amperage of each socket. He needed a way to assess quickly whether the stagehands at each venue were paying attention -- whether they had read every word of the contract and taken it seriously. In Roth's world, a brown M&M was the canary in the coal mine.

I'll finish by asking the same question that the Heath's asked: Where's the brown M&M in your business?

Thanks for reading.

—Jason @ Ideavise

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