The 3 i's revisited
I used to have the 3 i's on my business card. Funnily enough, if you have three words with exactly the same starting character, it's harder to remember.
The i's where Imagine, Innovate and Initiate. I believed in it and taught my teams to believe it it too.
Imagine - most of us don't practice the art of possibility (beyond the usual 'I want to be a billionaire'). We accept the status quot. We travel the same path every day, use the same gadgets, get the same pay check. Imagining means thinking of the what-if's and not worrying how absurd it sounds. Think about the microwave, the cellphone, wireless internet. A hundred years ago, it would be absurd. Today it is a commodity we take for granted.
Innovate - means bringing your imaginations into reality. Figuring out the path, finding the way. Innovating forces you to look at things differently, doing it differently because doing it the same way every day will get you the same result every time.
Initiate - get off our butts and doing it. The first step is always the hardest. Ask any toddler. But it doesn't stop him for trying and eventually he will learn to run and maybe, just maybe, become the fastest in the world.
The thing with the 3 i's is that they are things we do ourselves, they aren't things others do for us. There is no external barrier, just us. Sometimes we are our own biggest impediments.
Often I would imagine but too lazy to innovate and even if I find the energy, initiating is such a hill climb. But if we think of all the great inventions of our time, are these not the first 3 steps that they took?
The 3's are a constant reminder of what I need to do make a difference.
The i's where Imagine, Innovate and Initiate. I believed in it and taught my teams to believe it it too.
Imagine - most of us don't practice the art of possibility (beyond the usual 'I want to be a billionaire'). We accept the status quot. We travel the same path every day, use the same gadgets, get the same pay check. Imagining means thinking of the what-if's and not worrying how absurd it sounds. Think about the microwave, the cellphone, wireless internet. A hundred years ago, it would be absurd. Today it is a commodity we take for granted.
Innovate - means bringing your imaginations into reality. Figuring out the path, finding the way. Innovating forces you to look at things differently, doing it differently because doing it the same way every day will get you the same result every time.
Initiate - get off our butts and doing it. The first step is always the hardest. Ask any toddler. But it doesn't stop him for trying and eventually he will learn to run and maybe, just maybe, become the fastest in the world.
The thing with the 3 i's is that they are things we do ourselves, they aren't things others do for us. There is no external barrier, just us. Sometimes we are our own biggest impediments.
Often I would imagine but too lazy to innovate and even if I find the energy, initiating is such a hill climb. But if we think of all the great inventions of our time, are these not the first 3 steps that they took?
The 3's are a constant reminder of what I need to do make a difference.
posted by The Idea Dude at 9:31 AM
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