Weekly Task - Topic 4

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Discuss where good ideas come from. How to generate more good ideas?

Luven - Generating out-of-the-box ideas is key to success in businesses as competition continues to rise. As an entrepreneur, where can these incredible ideas be found? The infamous book, "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Steven Johnson opens a perspective on how brilliant ideas are obtained. It explains good ideas come by acquiring ideas from the past that had been stumbled upon, and improvised into something better which is considered a good idea (Gates, 2011). This exaptation is commonly done as humans tend to romanticize breakthrough innovations in the past, making new ideas revolve around those patterns (Patrick, 2023).

             To generate more good ideas as an entrepreneur, one way of achieving this is to have a session with a respected senior in the industry, whereby they will share or may even show their endeavors, which would be the best opportunity to learn from them by analyzing of their mistakes to create a better idea. Gimmy Chuu, the CEO of Nanoleaf, states the other way which is; "If you want to create something revolutionary, something people love, you have to think like an artist to generate ideas", whereby his company instead of ditching the idea of creating the world's most efficient light bulb due to costs, improvised on the idea by replacing light bulbs with technicolor LEDs and the company today has an estimated revenue of $25M per year (Chong, 2020). {219 words}

Sze Jay - Good ideas, are rarely coming from an individual's brain. However good ideas are normally coming from outside such as by social interactions (Marsden, 2019). According to Marsden, a study conducted by research laboratories found that scientists rarely had a flash of inspiration. They would normally get the ideas when in a conversation with their colleagues. Therefore when a good idea is needed, it is recommended for that individual to find someone that are related to the topics such as colleagues and also friends to have a chat about the topic.

            Other than that, according to a book by Johnson on 2010, he suggested that there are also seven more aspects that we can look for when finding for great ideas. One of the aspects that he suggested that are related in entrepreneurship is to find the other purpose that the existing product or service to be use to. This is also knows as the Principle of Exaptation which also known as "the bird feather evolved for warmth, and then through 'exaptation' soon becoming wings". By following this principle, entrepreneurs can find more good ideas to improve their products and also services. {191 words}

Chong - Humans need to utilize their minds to take the time to formulate a well-thought-out question and then allow others to reflect on it before coming up with ideas in order to brainstorm effectively and generate detailed concepts. Next, gather and use the ideation session to expand upon, discuss, decide upon, and integrate concepts into themes. After that, allow them some time to think things through and generate fresh concepts. Finally, encourage open communication and collaboration to refine and improve upon the ideas generated during the brainstorming session. Remember that creativity thrives in an environment where all voices are heard and valued (Amin, 2019).

              To come up with more brilliant ideas as entrepreneurs, we attempt to generate fresh ideas when we sit down to do so; it doesn't seem like we're making connections. Trying to create something out of nothing is like a strain. However, the fact is that connections are the true source of ideas. We may use a well-known businessman's statement, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it; they just saw something.” By Steve Jobs (Cooper, 2014){196 words}

Nareen - Getting good ideas about topics are different based on the person’s expertise, experience and more. Good ideas do not only come from a person who has more experience but sometimes, the individual with the least amount of knowledge on a particular subject comes up with the greatest idea. Oftentimes, the novice can see answers that the expert misses. Even Steve Jobs agreed with this persuasive theory: "In Buddhism, there is a concept known as 'beginner's mind.'" Having the mindset of a newbie is fantastic (Gabriele, n.d.). But this does not guarantee a good idea since the ideas can be creative but professionals might find it less useful considering the functionality.

             One of the ways of generating better ideas is with mind mapping, mind mapping refers to a diagram with information represented in visually which is much easier to understand and categorize, it also enables complex information to be broken down into smaller pieces. In order to enable teams to work together productively, this visual representation places special emphasis on arranging every project detail, emphasizing interdependencies, and guaranteeing that teams understand the broader picture. It's a helpful method for organizing intricate undertakings while maintaining focus on main goals (Zaluski, 2023). {199 words}

Naviin - In my view, good ideas are the product of consistent hard work, trial and error, and a willingness to learn from failures. Creatively speaking, ideas are sparked during the process of creation, but their effectiveness often relies on the depth of experience in the relevant field. Thus, more experience and learning from failures is what results in good ideas. Realistically speaking, one should also possess a moderate level of intelligence and the ability to solve complex problems to be able to generate good ideas. However, it is not necessary that most of the good ideas are generated by single individual, it can also be found in valuable information provided by other party such as the Internet.

              To generate good ideas, one of the way is to repeatedly ask questions (Ebersole, 2022). This helps solve the basic needs of creating the idea or solutions. For instance, asking questions like "who," "what," "where," "when," and "why" can stimulate the generation of more ideas. Additionally, quickly writing down ideas as they come to mind is helpful. This not only aids in visualizing the ideas but also makes it easier to merge them into larger concepts. Last but not least, it fully depends on the individual to generate ideas because when motivation is present, ideas naturally flow. {212 words}


References
- Gates, B. (2011, September 29). It’s not always a eureka moment. Gatesnotes. https://www.gatesnotes.com/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-From
- Patrick, W. (2023). Where Good Ideas Come From | Summary & Notes. Will Patrick. https://www.willpatrick.co.uk/notes/where-good-ideas-come-from-steven-johnson
- Chong, B. (2020, August 31). 7 ways to generate better ideas for your business. MaRS Discovery District. https://www.marsdd.com/news/seven-ways-to-generate-business-ideas
Johnson, S. (2010). Where Good Ideas Come From –  The Natural History of Innovation. Allan Lane.
- Marsden, P. (2019, November 19). Speed summary: Where good Ideas Come from - The natural history of innovation - Brand genetics. Brand Genetics. https://brandgenetics.com/human-thinking/speed-summary-where-good-ideas-come-from-the-natural-history-of-innovation/
- Ebersole, L. (2022, April 19). How to generate ideas. Elmhurst University. https://www.elmhurst.edu/blog/how-to-generate-ideas/
Zaluski, A. (2023, October 26). Idea generation methods. Notion. https://www.notion.so/blog/idea-generation
Gabriele, M. (n.d.). Where do great ideas come from? The Generalist. https://www.generalist.com/briefing/where-do-great-ideas-come-from

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