Seeking Billion-Dollar Ideas: Be Aware, Take Notes, Ask 'So What?'

If you’re in the business of technology (or increasingly, any business), you’ve witnessed the decades-long proliferation of Moore’s Law slides (congrats if you’re unaware) or slides “predicting” billions of connected devices by 2020, blah blah blah. The world is changing fast—got it. Brilliant for the first 40 years—but we don’t need to see it again.

For most of us, repetition has rendered these points meaningless. Profit, financial or psychic, is about information asymmetry. Differentiated insight. If everyone else is distracted, value appears in focus. Where others are over-focused, value emerges from a broader view.

When it appears everything has already been said, how can you discover distinctive, useful perspectives? We all have clues if we know where to look: become aware of what you’re aware of, take notes and ask “so what?”

Be Aware. Take Notes.

Through not-well-understood processes, our cognitive systems spotlight thoughts, opportunities, threats, anxieties, issues, ideas for attention. Known generally as consciousness, philosopher John Locke described it as “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind.” Your mind constantly generates thoughts, often—research suggests mostly— without your conscious direction. These thoughts collide into what William James referred to as a stream of consciousness.

In the century since James coined his metaphor, inputs vying for our minds have multiplied and intensified. We confront not only far more objects of potential attention, many organizations have become far better at attracting—even manipulating—us. Blinking lights, targeted ads and click bait induce a miasma through which we must somehow discern importance.

Blinking lights induce a miasma through which we must discern importance.

Some have described the notion of consciousness casting light on specific thoughts or perceptions from amidst unlimited possibilities. By highlighting specific thoughts, our minds make recommendations about what might be worthy of consideration. More specifically, your mind recommends what might be of value for you to pursue. It’s then up to you to prioritize.

Throughout the day, thoughts occur. Some capture your attention, others wander past. While this mysterious internal workshop lies to some extent beyond our command, what we apparently can control is our attention. You know when you’re clicking click bait (or it’s catching you). You can also feel when something could be of value.

Sometimes, an observation or idea feels more important. Urgent, unexpected, even shocking. You might desire to follow, but the demands of life intercede. Real thought takes time and focus, scarce resources in our attention-fragmenting milieu. Whenever a thought feels important to you, write it down. Any time, any place. Don’t worry about whether it’s “good.” Ignore whether you think you’ll have time for it later. Take note.

In Managing Oneself, Peter Drucker shared Beethoven’s perspective on his voluminous sketchbooks, to which he never referred while composing. “If I don’t write it down immediately, I forget it right away. If I put it into a sketchbook, I never forget it.”

Excerpt from Beethoven's Sketchbooks. This note includes the opening for his beloved (and overplayed) piece Für Elise. (Public Domain Photo: Wikimedia)

After a while, you’ll find you’ve directed part of your stream of consciousness to a reservoir of swirling, forming ideas and insights. Some will more often cycle through attention, which you might consider a recommendation from yourself to you. Your responsibility is to select paths to pursue.

Ask: Why, And So What?

When considering an object of your interest, consider two essential questions: why and so what? Why am I interested? Why might this idea be important, and for whom?

My Kellogg School of Management colleague Michelle Buck introduced me to the notion of asking five whys. Why that, then considering your answer, why that, and so on for five iterations. The purpose is to uncover purpose. To more deeply explore why we believe we should consider a specific question or opportunity. We— individuals or groups-- often think we know why we spend our attention on something.

People often don’t sufficiently consider the why of what. Why they’re doing what they’re doing. We repeat standard processes, received wisdoms and orthodoxies, typically because they work. By asking why, we might find a better way or even new destinations.

Soon after my parents’ wedding, my mother was preparing a ham for their first post-nuptial Christmas dinner. While doing so, my mother chopped the ends off the ham. My father, Bob, always curious, inquired, “Marilyn, why did you do that?” Mom responded, “My mother taught me to do that, but I’m not sure why.” So they dialed my grandmother, Bethel. Her response was similar, “I’m not sure either. My mother taught me that.” So they called my great-grandmother, Bessie Mae. Her answer: “We had a really small oven.”

After you’ve probed purpose, consider implications. The questions why and so what are cousins. The French word for why, pourqoui, translates literally as, “for what.” Asking why explores purpose or motivation. So what helps uncover implications.

Asking 'why' explores purpose. Asking 'so what' uncovers implications.

If you’re noodling on a bit of foresight or perhaps an idea, assume first that it’s correct, that it will work (it might not— this is an exercise). If your vision becomes reality, then so what? What implications might arise for various individuals, organizations, industries, even for society? Considering implications of success helps you determine the upsides and risks, thus how much to commit to particular paths.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reed_Hastings,_Web_2.0_Conference.jpg

Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix, hypothesized in the 1990s that consumers would want to view video content anywhere, anytime. At the time, his vision was impossible. Not enough bandwidth, content owners unwilling to share their content and so on. But Hastings knew that whoever could eventually offer video on demand would win. The implications of success where profound, so he assumed the risk to create reality.

Few thoughts lead to billion dollar startups, but you can’t win if you don’t play. Entrepreneurial individuals tend to pay more attention to that instinct—their gut-- that tells them there could be something valuable others don’t see. An apt metaphor, as it turns out we each have a cognitive system within our guts, perhaps the source of such pangs. Pay attention.

Our guts have cognitive systems. Pay attention.

In the earliest stages, ideas are ill-formed, but the most compelling ideas compel. Many entrepreneurs report that their initial ideas not only iterated for months or years, but demanded their attention for a while before they acted.

Real thought requires commitment. Our attention-fragmented, media-saturated lives conspire against progress, but the rewards of reflection can be fulfilling, sometimes profitable and occasionally even profound.

So next time you’re an invited speaker, challenge yourself to add something new. Consider what your gut has been telling you, ask why and so what and spend real time reflecting. And delete that slide about billions of connected devices.

This article originally appeared in Forbes, July 29, 2018.