Support systems
· 5:03 PM
I tend to work from the supposition that ideas need support systems similar to how people need support systems.
Trite? Okay, but I’m comfortable with expressing tritely. Mainly I’ve always watched ideation support in business get overlooked despite corporate greenlighting and venture capital.
For anyone creating anything, my hypothesis is that lack of support can turn into various undermining behaviors including…
- creators making weak ideas as they succumb to negative attributional bias (often this is the most undermining result and tends to spread past creators)
- unrealistic expectations for success
- incivility
- sabotage (sabotage of a bad idea can be ok sometimes)
- and, finally, multiple felony murder counts.
(Last item has no supporting data, I just have a hunch.)
Lots of startups tend to focus on a single characteristic of support. But in addition to All. That. Money. there’s obviously…
- effort
- goods
- information
- reassurance
That last bit ain’t easy. Creators that aren’t in an environment promoting or fostering inspiration or recognition in some way? I’ll make a strong bet that the resultant ideas are weaker than their potential given their creators.
Seriously, even Rocky had Adrian.
I really enjoy the angels, VCs, and teams who recognize the need for all of these things – but even the best occasionally throw reassurance under the bus, as if they’re laypeople dealing with cowboy archetypes and machismo.
Seems worth it to me to provide the lesser-known characteristics of support for ideas as I suspect they’re even more crucial than is apparent.