Mirror, Mirror

By Helen Vollmer, President, Edelman Southwest

Where do good ideas come from?  I admit that I’m a bit obsessed with, not only the genesis of good ideas, but how to translate good ideas into brilliant innovations that succeed in transforming a company, a product, an institution or a campaign.

As a young pup in PR, I would charge into Sam Keeper’s office (my first PR boss and guru) at Ruder Finn to tell him about the great idea I had for Kinney Shoes, Borden’s Milk or Pentel Pens.  He would stop me and say, “Great ideas are a dime a dozen.  What’s so special about this one?”

To this day, I have to rein in my enthusiasm periodically, and force myself to ask whether a good idea will get the results I’m looking for and, if the answer is no, accept that potential failure can be the mirror side of creativity.  When you step back and think about limits, typically ideas become sharper, more focused, and more original and inspired.  Restraint forces ingenuity.  You have to know where the walls of the room are before you can figure out what to do inside them.

These thoughts are reinforced in Tina Seelig’s new book, InGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity, a must-read for those who believe that we are all naturally creative and that creativity can be taught.  Seelig, a Stanford professor, cites three factors that can spark creativity: 1) attitude; 2) knowledge; and, 3) imagination.  The three overlap in fueling innovation and are assisted by external forces—culture, habitat and resources—creating an interdependence between the individual and his or her environment.  Combined, Seelig calls this her “Innovation Engine.”

The more you know, according to Seelig, the more you can unlock resources, so knowledge is paramount to creativity.  Hear, hear!  At Edelman, we believe that great ideas must come from informed insights.  Creativity and strategy go hand-in-hand.  To that end, we’ve formed the Strategic  + Creative Guild at Edelman, a group of focused experts that help our clients build pioneering frameworks and platforms that yield success.

We all have good ideas.  And, I believe we all have the capacity to turn many of these sparks of thought into engines that drive innovation.  Where’s the next best thing come from?  Look in the mirror.  Then let knowledge be your guide.