RESOURCE 1

The New Art of Ideas
DISCUSSION GUIDE

No matter what goal you want to achieve, The New Art of Ideas offers a proven system for how to get worthwhile ideas. The Three Gs framework will teach you precisely how to generate good ideas, ones that benefit individuals, society, and our planet. The New Art of Ideas will reshape the way you think about idea generation and offer the tools and strategies you need to transform your thinking—whether you are a team looking to develop a new product, a faculty member who wants to teach your students to ideate, an organization hoping to rethink your sector, or an individual who wishes to invent something, write a story, design an athletic shoe, generate an idea for a business, get more and better ideas on the job, or get any worthwhile idea.

The New Art of Ideas is based on a brand-new framework:

Goal + Gap + Gain → Worthwhile Idea

I divide The New Art of Ideas framework into three Gs: goal, gap, and gain. Breaking it down into the Three Gs can help you understand what a worthwhile idea is, how it works, and how to generate one. Always ask if there’s a benefit in there for individuals, for society, or for our planet—what do they gain from your goal and from filling this gap? You can use the Three Gs to generate ideas for a community, a company, an entire industry, and so on, to ensure the goal always delivers a gain. If there’s no benefit, there’s no point in filling a gap—or perhaps there was no gap to begin with.

This is one of the main reasons for you to employ this framework—it yields ideas that move the needle! It generates ideas that are worthwhile, not trivial—ideas that will make a difference because you are seeking an outcome with a benefit for individuals, society, or our planet.

These discussion prompts will engage individuals, teams, and organizations and get them thinking about generating worthwhile ideas.

Individual

1.What goals interest you?

2.What are you passionate about?

3.What do you wish existed in the world to benefit individuals, creatures, society, or our planet?

4.Can you list five goals? Whittle the list down to three goals, then to one goal.

5.Which emotional obstacles most stand in your way? How can you work to eliminate them?

6.What can you do to be more observant of potential gaps and gains?

7.How can you best use your own power, talent, and intelligence to achieve your goal and bring your worthwhile idea to life?

8.What are three things you think would benefit your profession?

9.What are three things you think would benefit your community or society?

10. What are three things you think would benefit our planet?

Teams

1.If you are a team leader, how could you employ the new Three Gs framework with your team?

2.What’s the best way for your team to employ the Three Gs when starting with a preset goal? Are you asking enough challenging questions before setting a goal, looking for possible gaps in research or the industry?

3.What’s the best way for your team to employ the Three Gs when starting without a preset goal?

4.What organizational system will allow your team to conduct research into finding gaps and gains in the industry or discipline?

5.What have your team members observed that would benefit people and that your company could make happen? Can you identify specific gains?

6.How can your team members feel more comfortable speaking up? Do you encourage dialogue and not debate?

7.How can a culture be built for worthwhile results?

8.What is the source of emotional obstacles at the team level?

9.Have you done multiple perspective taking?

10. Have you built inclusive diverse teams?

Organizations

1.Idea generation is an urgent concern in a competitive international marketplace. How relevant are worthwhile ideas to your organization’s growth? Please be specific.

2.How do worthwhile ideas and/or innovation (new worthwhile ideas) play a role in your industry or sector?

3.How can leaders guide their organizations in employing the Three Gs? Can they offer guidance on a systemic level?

4.All businesses today are idea-dependent businesses. How can your organization help its C-suite to set goals, seek gaps, and find gains?

5.Have you surveyed employees to gauge their perspectives on diversity, equity, and inclusion in your organization? Are you conducting multiple perspective taking? Is dialogue encouraged?

6.How is leadership fostering a willingness to question goals, seek gaps, and find gains for people?

7.How can your organization’s leadership eliminate barriers and emotional obstacles to foster worthwhile ideation?

8.What’s the best way for your organization to utilize the Three Gs—starting with a set goal? Seeking a gap? Or pinpointing a gain?

9.When your organization sets goals, who determines if the goals are correct? Are you asking the right questions? Are you asking enough challenging questions before setting a goal—looking for possible gaps in research or the industry?

10. What are ten possible gains for individuals, creatures, society, and our planet that your organization can make happen?

RESOURCE 2

EIGHT WAYS YOU CAN SET YOUR GOAL

When there are no preset demands, goals, or guidelines, let’s look at eight ways you can set a goal.

1. Build on an Observation

Keen observation is fundamental to research. There are many ways to set a goal. At times, you happen on it. Make it a practice of being alert to possibilities—an anomaly, an unexpected connection or occurrence, an insight, a recurring theme, and more.

If you notice a gap, investigate. Find out if there is a need to fill that void. Determine what the gain would be and how many people it would serve.

An observation doesn’t have to be one that sets a goal in motion. You might observe a gap or a gain—in that case, you start from there.

2. Spot a Problem That Needs Fixing

You’re in a unique position to see a problem that needs fixing. Perhaps you’re a physical therapist, and you notice what’s missing from the equipment sets. Or you’re an educator, and you can no longer stand the fact that students sit at a desk for hours at a time.

Noticing pain points is extremely useful. If you search social media to see what people are complaining about, what their pain points are on various topics, products, brands, and so on, you might have an insight into setting a goal, filling a gap, or providing a gain.

3. Follow a Passion

So many great ideas stem from people’s passions—their interest in a subject, a hobby, something they do beyond their job, or something they just keep at until it works.

4. Go with What You Know Best

When you are intimately familiar with a discipline or industry, you can see how you might be able to make things easier for people. You’ll also be better able to identify gaps, know who is underserved, and see which paths have not yet been explored.

5. Do What Makes Sense for Your Company’s Plan, Customers, and the Planet

Identify specifically what your organization can do to contribute to progress for individuals, society, or the planet. What expertise does it have that will lead to worthwhile ideas?

6. Consider Neglected Problems, Endemic Problems, or Urgent Needs

We face so many neglected problems in so many sectors. There is always a need for new ideas and certainly a need for urgent ideas during times of war, famine, pandemic, tsunami, or other acts of nature or human-caused disasters. There are many ideas that can lead to working on excellent goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, for example, ending poverty, bringing about peace, quality education, good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, social justice, gender equality, clean energy, decent work and wages, economic growth, innovations in infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities, responsible production methods, climate action, care for the oceans and all our environments.

You could think of a gap as a neglected problem.

7. Ask “What Else?”

When you’re observant, what you see, hear, notice, or investigate might trigger a goal. Ask: What else is possible? What else can you do with this material, data, or observation? What else is there to discover here? Who else can you collaborate with?

8. Ask Yourself What You Wish Existed (or What’s Missing?)

This is pretty easy—it’s your wish list for making the world just a bit, or a whole lot, better.

RESOURCE 3

HOW DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION CAN AMPLIFY THE THREE GS

A Discussion Guide for Leaders

To see how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) can amplify the Three Gs and help your organization, assemble a diverse, inclusive team. It’s best practice to engage everyone in your organization in dialogue, from interns to managers to the C-suite. It’s also advisable to have a representative from your organization’s office of equity and inclusion, if one exists, to assist.

Assign a goal or ask the team to suggest a goal. Let the team take it from there, using the Three Gs and this discussion guide to foster a discussion about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

During this discussion, as a leader you should focus on actively listening to what people think and feel about their voices and senses of place in your organization, rather than on a resulting idea.

The United States Institute of Peace has a useful comparison of dialogue and debate, which I highly recommend. Here are a few highlights:

•In a dialogue, one listens to the other side(s) in order to understand, find meaning, and find agreement.

•Dialogue enlarges and possibly changes a participant’s point of view.

•Dialogue opens the possibility of reaching a better solution than any of the original solutions.¹

The following steps can serve as a guide for achieving a fruitful discussion:

1.Ask each person to ask the person next to them to share their perspective on the goal under discussion.

2.Ask team members how they think DEI can magnify the company goal under discussion.

3.Ask the team if anyone has ever realized a different perspective from someone unlike themselves. What might the gains be for their ideas?

4.Start a group discussion about the organization’s goal and gap as it relates to equity. How can DEI magnify the results by better addressing the gap?

5.Remind the group that DEI amplifies the Three Gs—that respectful dialogue leads to ideas with greater breadth and depth by exposing you to different perspectives that open up thinking and offer new avenues. Ask each team member to cite a gain that results from opening the goal and gap to a different point of view.

6.Ask people on the team what they would expect in allyship when putting ideas out into the world.

7.Ask the team to identify the ideas the team proposed that are most amplified by DEI.

RESOURCE 4

RESEARCH TOOLS

Scenario Map and Social Media Research

To build a better understanding of your audience’s personal goals, create a scenario map. Fill in the following responses for your target audience.

SCENARIO MAP

Stay focused on the audience. Your goal is to pinpoint what might be a gain for your target audience. This process might reveal a gap as well.

SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH

You can also use social media to put your assumptions to the test. Make a list of assumptions about the gain you envision and about the audience. Next, list questions about your assumptions. Head to social media to search for what the audience is saying to see if you’re in the ballpark, and list what you find.

RESOURCE 5

OVERCOMING EMOTIONAL OBSTACLES CHECKLIST

The New Art of Ideas offers a new framework—the Three Gs—for generating ideas. I want to make sure you feel—yes, feel—you’re ready. Emotions play a great part in how we act. I’m going to prime your emotional side to prepare you to ideate:

•Make a Deal with Yourself. Establish a schedule for your project, and keep to it. Make the time devoted to your project nonnegotiable. Know which times of the day work best for you to think critically and creatively, times when you have a good amount of energy.

•Tackle Your Doubts. Focus on your goal. Take action, rather than ruminate. Realize we all have self-doubts, and find a way to energize yourself by working toward your goal.

•Channel a Success. Think of something you did well, major (business deal) or minor (arranged a great birthday party). Harness that positive memory of accomplishment.

•Focus. Try dedicating a certain amount of time every day or every other day to your idea. That way, even when you’re not paying full attention to it, your subconscious will be working on it.

•Change Your Thinking. To unlock your creative potential, ask: How can I look at this in a different way? Can I look at this scenario, situation, object, setting, or relationship through a different lens? Is there a vantage point I haven’t addressed? Take someone else’s perspective, someone very different from yourself. Reframe a common scenario.

•Take a Step Back. To achieve your goal and realize your idea, you undoubtedly will have to overcome an obstacle. How you react emotionally to an obstacle is a factor. A good skill to build is removing yourself by one. If your friend were experiencing the same, how would you support them? Treat yourself as you would a friend.

•You Can Generate a Worthwhile Idea. Idea generation is no longer a mysterious process. Using the Three Gs, you have the capacity to get ideas that will benefit people or our planet, ideas that will move the needle. The Three Gs framework is a fluid system that’s as easy to implement as it is to remember. Using the Three Gs, you and I—all of us—can generate worthwhile ideas.

As Albert Szent-Györgyi told his biographer, Ralph Moss, “Think boldly, don’t be afraid of making mistakes, don’t miss small details, keep your eyes open, and be modest in everything except your aims.”

NOTES: YOUR IDEAS

What is an idea you’d like to work on over the next year? How are you working toward realizing that idea today?

Action plan: What needs to be done, in what order, and by when: