If you are a successful entrepreneur or intrapraneur, you are probably an “idea guy” or work with one of these dangerously endearing men or women.
Let me introduce you to someone who may be the ultimate idea guy to show you why ideas alone are not enough. (And what’s lacking, as you will see, goes far beyond just execution.)
In Free the Idea Monkey, I wrote about Larry Walters—a guy who had always wanted to fly, but poor eyesight kept him from becoming an Air Force pilot. So to make his dream come true, he got creative.
The equation was pretty simple:
Balloons + Lawn Chair + Beer = Flying Fun
As the story goes, Larry acquired (I haven’t a clue how) 45 weather balloons and filled them with helium. Then he attached the balloons to his favorite aluminum lawn chair, which, for the time being, he had tied to his Jeep.
He reasoned that he could float above his backyard for a while in what he decided to call Inspiration I, have a few beers, and then shoot the balloons with a pellet gun so that he could descend gently back down to earth.
Like most brilliant idea people, Larry believed that overcomplicating his concept with unnecessary details—such as asking what could go wrong—was a waste of time. He was an activator, and it was time to fly. He grabbed a bunch of sandwiches, a six-pack, his pellet gun and a camera. He untethered the lawn chair and….
(Cue the something-bad-is-about-to-happen music.)
At this point, things started to veer from Larry’s unplanned plan. Inspiration I rose rapidly to 16,000 feet; that’s more than three miles above the earth. He was too afraid to shoot at the balloons because he thought he might unbalance the chair and fall out. He literally held on for his life.
His chair soon floated through the primary approach corridor of Long Beach Airport, causing pilots to question whether they were losing their minds as they looked at a guy with a six-pack and a pellet gun float by in what appeared to be a lawn chair.
After 45 minutes in the sky, Larry got up the nerve to shoot several balloons but then accidentally dropped his pellet gun overboard.
Whoopsy!
Eventually, the balloons lost enough helium so that his spacecraft descended far enough to become entangled in Long Beach power lines, which caused a neighborhood blackout for 20 minutes.
Whoopsy 2!
Larry climbed down to the ground where he was arrested and fined $4,000 for violating federal aviation regulations. He received the top prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas as well as an honorable mention in the Darwin Awards (“Honoring those who improve the species…by accidentally removing themselves from it!”).
Frankly, he was lucky to be alive.
When I first heard it, I found the story of Larry Walters’ adventure incredibly amusing. What a knucklehead. But the more I reflected on his challenge, his dream and his unconventional yet oddly successful plan, something occurred to me that made my skin crawl.
I am Larry Walters—and perhaps so are you.
Like most entrepreneurs, I have lots of ideas. And like Larry’s, my ideas are not always considered practical by the poor souls who have to actually execute them. My bet is that many of your ideas are met with less enthusiasm than you’d like.
But idea people make shift happen. And even though the “shift” may often hit the fan, it takes a special person to challenge gravity, challenge convention or challenge the boss.
What you might see as “attention deficit disorder,” great leaders often see as “attention surplus order.” Wherever you find innovation, you will find creative people who have managed to channel this surplus of attention. They changed what could have been destructive distraction to constructive invention through awareness, leadership and disciplined process. They have helped creative people fly.
Some people keep their ideas to themselves, which is sad. Some go off half-cocked and crash their businesses or their lives, which is even sadder.
And that brings me to an important point: Not all ideas are good ones.
Point two: Idea Monkeys like Larry will need someone they trust and respect who can skillfully point this out to them. (I call those people “(Ring)leaders.”) We all think we are wonderful judges of our precious ideas. Most of us are not. That’s where the (Ring)leaders come in.
Point last: We need Idea Monkeys like Larry to change the world. But we also require (Ring)leaders to keep their lawn chairs from crashing inside our P&Ls.
Wherever you find effective and efficient innovation, you will find a wonderful Idea Monkey and an equally wonderful (Ring)leader who trust and respect each other. Steve Jobs needed Steve Wozniak. Mark Zuckerberg needed Sheryl Sandburg.
One last thing to remember: Larry Walters flew. Too many of us dream of flight and never do—or worse, sit on the ground criticizing the “crazy ones” who have decided that if someone is going to change the world, well, it might as well be them.
Follow me on Twitter @theideamonkey or read my Forbes blog here.
This article was originally published by Free the Idea Monkey
Published: March 14, 2014
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