Create Ideas that are “Off the Wall,” Not “Out of the Box”
Create “off the wall” ideas not “out of the box” Ones
“Out of the box” thinking, the buzzword of job interviews, new assignments, personality tests.
Everyone claims to be capable of this in interviews, on teams, and in workshops. The hard truth is, out of the box ideas are not that interesting. Out of the box implies that you have just kind of stepped out of the norm, and are still “palatable.”
What do I mean by “palatable?” This is actually something I speak with my therapist about quite often, how to make myself more palatable to people? Palatable used to describe an idea means that there is not much resistance to accept it. As an innovator- why would you ever want your ideas to be easily accepted?
Easily accepting a new idea, confirms that it isn’t really that new after all. An out of the box idea still lives within a space that is comfortable and acceptable to higher ups.
Stagnation from “Yes” People
While at a big Fortune 500 Corporation, I used to get to sit in C-Suite meetings (I was there to notify our CEO that the Executive Chairman was calling, or to take notes, but still, I was in the room). Ideas would come up, and knowing what I did about each exec in the room, I expected them to chime in with their 20 years or so of expertise, but they rarely ever said anything that contradicted the overall sentiment in the room. It was a room full of “yes” men and women.
I participated in workshops and hackathons from the innovation department, the winning projects often were just a basic reworking of an idea that an executive judging the competition already had.
Because of things like this we were constantly chasing our competitors and not really innovating at the level that we could be. We were never first to anything. We kept ourselves at a palatable level of newness for our audience, relying on the data of who we had, versus who we could bring in.
Off the Wall Ideas
Enter the concept of “off the wall” ideas. Versus out of the box, off the wall is truly; for a lack of a better word: radical. Off the Wall ideas are a bit too before their time, so they make people uncomfortable. This is a problem I have had in both my personal and professional life for years: making people uncomfortable. I have ADHD so my thoughts show up out of order, my emotional regulation can be off at times, and my enthusiasm and passion come off as a bit too much for people.
However, there are lots of successful people out there who provide off the wall ideas because of their ADHD. Some examples include: Sir Richard Branson, Charles Schwab, Bill Gates, and Walt Disney. But what do they all have in common? They are cisgender men. Off the Wall ideas feel more palatable when they have a strong male voice exclaiming them.
I read a stat recently from an HBR study saying that there is a massive difference when men and women pitch ideas to VCs. A pitch read by a male voice is 40% more likely to get funded than if a woman reads the exact same presentation. I’m not shocked. Having been on both sides of the table, this does not surprise me at all.
Out of the ordinary ideas pitched by the gender who are supposed to set and maintain the status quo goes against expectations and tends to make people uncomfortable. For some reason it seems like the woman pitching the out of the ordinary idea is wrong, and a man pitching the same idea has strong conviction about changing things.
So What Are We Supposed to Do About It?
VCs reading this, think about what biases you are bringing to the table when you read a deck or listen to a pitch? Women reading this, keep on pushing yourself to come up with off the wall, crazy ideas — don’t let anyone box you into what they think that you are capable of ideating. Make people uncomfortable, be ok with the fact that pushing for something truly new and innovative takes awhile for other people to accept. Don’t just settle for ideas that are just a teeny inch away from the system. Go for the ideas that will change things.
Here is a quote that I hate because people don’t actually mean it and only let it describe a certain type of person doing certain things, “Well behaved women seldom make history.” What they really mean is women who follow social cues and look like they have their shit together but make things happen are ones to be idolized.
Here’s the actual truth- if Eleanor Roosevelt (who supposedly originated the quote) sat in a meeting with these middle management professionals would they listen to her- or just write her off? Marilyn Monroe (another incorrect source for the quote) — would a corporate company be cool with her behavior? Would they not judge her for checking herself into a center for mental health treatment? My feeling is she would be judged if not fired for it.
Radical Investments Pay Off
We still have a really long way to go in terms of accepting women and their ideas for their value, and not ascribing inner biases onto said ideas. We still have a long way to go in terms of accepting radical ideas from anyone. Investment into female led startups went from 2.7% to 2.4% in 2020, because a pandemic lets people go into survival mode and stop working on making things better.
A situation of uncertainty leads to less risk, when in fact a major shift can present an opportunity to change things. This should have been the time for off the wall ideas to thrive. The economic recession in 2008 let companies that are now seen as basic and essential like Whatsapp, Venmo, Uber, or Airbnb come to fruition. It proved advantageous to investors such as Jim Goetz to really go all in on something “off the wall” like Whatsapp, he led the round, eventually netting Sequoia 750% IRR which is legendary.
SO WTF IS YOUR POINT?
I’m here. Let’s sum this up in bullet points to make this more “palatable.”
- An out of the box idea is a cop out, because it is still something palatable that works within the system.
- An off the wall idea is not palatable at all, is considered radical or crazy but will massively shift an area of business
- We should not be playing it safe right now, there is so much change that we have had to adapt to, it’s the right time to go for the crazy ideas
- Listen to the women with the radical ideas, hear them out, and don’t recoil and judge, you have an opportunity to change things (I’m actually talking to other women here more than men)
- Radical ideas create groundbreaking companies and create concepts that now feel comfortable, the internet was once considered crazy
- Make more room at the table for people who like crazy ideation, who want to bring the future to your organization, it will pay off for you
- Those who have been discouraged for thinking too far ahead, keep innovating, don’t let people discourage you because they are too small minded.
