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I regularly listen to the Long Now seminars about long term thinking. They are a real antidote to our normal to our normal day to day thinking which mostly focuses on immediate and short term thinking. If you’ve not listened to one before I really recommend that you take a look.

The most recent seminar featured Brewster Kahle founder and librarian of the storied Internet Archive.

All knowledge, to all people, for all time, for free

Universal access to all knowledge, Kahle declared, will be one of humanity’s greatest achievements. We are already well on the way. “We’re building the Library of Alexandria, version 2. We can one-up the Greeks!”

The achievements of the Internet Archive are already quite outstanding:

• The Web – 150 Billion web pages
• Texts – 3,125,761 books and documents
• Audio – 1,047,238 recordings
• Moving Images – 595,903 movies
• e Music Archive – 95,367 concerts

That got me thinking:

What about an Archive of Ideas?

There are many stories of ideas that were before their time – think Leonardo da Vinci

What about all the ideas for products and services that started of as one thing and ended up as something completely different – think Facebook.

Then there’s all the ideas that are just plan dumb – for now!

So how would an archive for ideas work?

• would you embargo ideas until you knew they would work?
• would putting your ideas “out there” motivate you to action?
• Would putting your ideas “out there” stimulate a discussion and help them evolve faster?
• Are we strong enough to accept other people’s critique?

Ideas are partially formed concepts, while texts, pictures, moving pictures, and audio file from the Internet Archive are fully formed and edited. Do we have the courage to share our thinking before it’s fully formed?

Related Posts:

• Embrace Ideas
• When Yes means No
• Give your ideas power

That might sound like a strange title “When Yes means No”. If you read a little further I’m sure you’ll recognize it. In fact if you’re honest you’ve done it yourself. Hands up, confession – I’ve done it too!

We’ve all been in meetings or on a conference call were everyone is excitedly making their point. What’s often happening is that we’re trying to get an opening so that you can make our own. Right?

So, what do we all do to silence whoever is talking so we can say what we want to say. We say “Yes” – to get agreement – and then we say “BUT” – to move on to our point.

This is when YES means NO.

The reason for raising it here is that it’s a habit that closes our minds to other people’s ideas. We become so focused on our idea that we stop listening to others. What we really end up saying is NO – your idea is not as good as mine.

Next time there’s a “Yes, but” on your lips catch it a stop it before it comes out. If your really mean “No” then say so; and have a proper conversation about the idea or issue. Then move on.

If you really do mean “Yes”, then say it without qualification.

Related Posts:

• An Archive for Ideas
• Give your ideas power
• More ways to share your ideas

Yesterday I shared examples of some interesting ways to visually present complex ideas or concepts. When presenting or sharing your ideas with others it’s often necessary to give a speech or presentation at the same time. Having a great idea is the first step, but getting others to understand and appreciate it is when the ideas really gets its power.

I don’t know about you but giving a presentation is not everyone’s favourite activity. I’ve done a few and with enough time for preparation and practice I do get kick out of it. Here is a great little video (4 minutes) from Francisco Dao for INC.com that give some really great tips on giving the best presentation you can. I also subscribe to Lisa B Marshall’s The Public Speaker Quick and Dirty Tips podcast through iTunes. This is a great resource and Lisa offers really good practical advice.

Related Posts:

• More ways to share your ideas
• An Archive for Ideas
• When Yes means No