Confession: I answer the LinkedIn questions—Here’s why
Answering these questions isn’t just about the badge (though let’s be real, LinkedIn’s gamification has us all hooked). By pushing us to get into the top 5%, they’ve mastered the art of motivation. But that’s another discussion.
For me, answering these questions is about reflection. It forces me to think through what I know—and what I don’t—and then share those thoughts. Sharing, after all, closes the loop in the learning process. If I don’t put these reflections out there, they’re only half-baked.
These prompts reflect what I’m thinking right now. I change my mind all the time, and I’m often wrong, so ask your doctor if Cam’s reflections are right for you. ??
What follows is a collection of thoughts—there’s no grand order, just ideas worth pondering and reflecting on. Take what resonates and leave the rest. If you have thoughts based on my reflections, I’d love to hear them—we can learn together.
Ideas are cheap. It's what you do with them that matters
Ideas are plentiful, but what really counts is finding evidence that your idea works and taking action to make it happen. Cultivating an idea means it can be any size, not just grand world-changing concepts. It's about finding ways to use what you have or achieve better results with less effort. Don’t get fixated on having the idea itself—it’s what you do with it that truly matters.
Action: Document all of your ideas and then vet them using the What Is, What If, What Wows, What Works design thinking tool from the Darden Business School. This process helps you assess each idea based on desirability, feasibility, and viability, ensuring you focus on ideas that can be realistically executed and deliver value. And let’s not forget timing—because even when all the criteria are met, timing can make or break your idea. More on that in the future. You can find more details about the Darden Business School Method here.
Personal Note: I use this method to filter out the noise and focus on what’s actually possible, helping me avoid getting bogged down by too many ideas and instead zero in on what I can take action on.
Rabbit Hole: If you want to dive deeper into design thinking, here are a few curated resources that can take you further down the rabbit hole. These come from many great books that explore how design thinking applies not just to business but to life itself:
Everything is an experiment—be ruthless with what you keep and what you kill
Building off the process of generating ideas, the concept is to test your ideas as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Each time you test an idea, you use evidence to determine if it works or not. If an idea doesn’t work, you must be honest with yourself and be willing to abandon it. Therefore, what you really need is a collection of ideas, or an innovation portfolio, and a method to test them with real people to gather evidence of their effectiveness. Once you confirm value, you can then move into the exploitation phase where you can scale the idea to reach as many people as possible and reap the rewards of your work.
Action: Use the innovation portfolio based on the explore-exploit trade-off. Test your ideas in the explorer area, running a series of inexpensive tests to gather evidence before investing heavily. Once you confirm that an idea works, move it to the exploit area to maximize ROI with minimal effort. You can find the innovation portfolio tool, along with the book Testing Business Ideas by Steve Blank, at strategyzer.com.
Personal Note: In my career, I’ve found that people really don’t like the words "exploit" and "kill." However, these are part of the innovation process and technical language. They are meant to be strong because you have to truly get rid of an idea that doesn’t work to make room for the new one.
Example: A year ago, I came up with Memoir AI, a journaling tool that used AI to interview you as if writing a biography or memoir. I loved it, and I think it would have been desirable to others too. But after meeting with Greg Shove, CEO of Section School, I had to face reality. The idea wasn’t feasible because it had no real moat, and larger companies like Apple would soon release their own versions. It wasn’t viable to invest money in it when it would be irrelevant. The timing just wasn’t soon enough to get ahead of anyone else—so I had to kill it.
During that conversation, Greg asked me one of the best Really Good Questions (RGQs) I’ve ever heard: "Do you have friends and family who will loan you the money to make this happen?" That stopped me in my tracks. Relying on others isn’t something I want to do, but it’s an incredible vetting mechanism. If you care enough to ask for money from those closest to you, it’s a sign you’re committed—if not, maybe it’s just an idea you think might work.
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Seek and Systemize Change
Don’t just embrace change—you need to seek it out. Change shouldn’t be a reaction; it should be part of your system. This typically means looking at two key areas: exploitation and exploration. This is the explore-exploit trade-off—again.
You have a number of things that are proven to work, and you’re scaling those to get as much value as possible. That’s the exploitation phase. But everything that works lives in the exploit area, and those things eventually start to fall off. What we need to do is keep a pipeline of new ideas flowing in the exploration area, where we’re testing out ideas as quickly as possible. As proven ideas start to lose value, we have a steady stream of new ones ready to replace them, making us better and keeping us ahead.
Real-world Explorer examples: Right now, in my innovation portfolio, I’m testing a few tools that could move into the exploit area:
You’ll note that none of these are groundbreaking ideas. They’re a collection of smaller ideas that save time, add value, and cost less. This is the power of the pipeline—once we can prove with evidence that these are working, they make their way up into the exploit area and begin to add value at scale.
Action: Build a system that continuously feeds exploration. It’s not just about managing what works; it’s about always testing what might work next. Use tools like an innovation portfolio to balance the exploitation of current successes and the exploration of new opportunities. You can find more on this from strategyzer.com.
The Value of Small, Incremental Improvements
Big wins are exciting, but the truth is that most success comes from smaller, incremental improvements over time. We often overestimate what we can achieve in a short period and underestimate what can be accomplished with small, consistent efforts. It’s easy to get swept up by the allure of “game-changing” ideas, but often, it’s the little tweaks that make the biggest difference.
As I mentioned earlier, these small wins add up. A steady stream of minor improvements can compound into something much greater, creating exponential value over time.
Action: Start tracking your small wins. Whether it’s improving a process, finding a new tool, or just streamlining an existing workflow, log each improvement and note the impact it has. Over time, you’ll see just how much progress can be made through consistent, incremental change.
Personal Note: I’ve seen firsthand how these smaller changes can add up. In my own work, it’s often the small, seemingly insignificant adjustments that end up having the largest long-term impact. Patience and persistence are underrated, but they’re essential for sustaining meaningful progress.
Final Thoughts: Embrace the Messy Process
Innovation isn’t linear. It’s messy, full of dead ends, pivots, and unexpected breakthroughs. The process can feel chaotic, but that’s where the magic happens. The key is to stay adaptable, keep testing, and be willing to fail quickly and move on.
Sometimes, the path to success involves killing off ideas you love (as we discussed earlier). Other times, it means taking a step back and realizing that incremental improvements are stacking up into something bigger than you initially imagined.
Action: Here's one way to start small: use prompts like the expert questions or RGQs (Really Good Questions) to challenge your thinking. Answering them forces you to say your ideas out loud, reflect on what you think you know, and close the learning loop. Share your thoughts with others—it’s one small win that will compound over time, helping you continuously refine your perspective and explore new possibilities.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: