Are You Willing To Be Insane?

I’m thinking about what makes me weary these days, and it is this: people rejecting ideas out of hand. I walked out of the room last night as my mother and sister were vigorously bashing Facebook. I would have stayed in the room if either of them had tried it (even for an instant) and were willing to share opinions based upon their experiences. I don’t doubt that many of you reading this share negative feelings about Facebook (but I’ll admit – I love it!). It’s not my job to sell Facebook, so I don’t.

However, it is my job to assist in planning and organizational development, and I am floored by the tenacious clinging to “what we know works.” If only I could see an equal and opposite force to the frustrations expressed about the state of the economy and the related workforce reductions. I keep mentioning the definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results) and, ironically, that act in of itself has started to feel insane.

My clients know that I have been promoting increased synergy and accountability through online collaboration using tools like Google Groups and Basecamp. The results I have seen with this methodology has been stunning to say the least, but apparently the pain needs to be excruciating before most leaders will implement radical changes like this to their team and organizational practices.

But forget IMPLEMENTING radical change. How many of us will even ENTERTAIN creative new ideas? How many of us are willing to venture out of our comfort zone, even for a moment, even with no obligation to act upon the ideas that we discover?

My friend Dan Koffman recently launched http://www.koffmantopspin.com/, and as we exchanged emails about his new venture, I am reminded that he has been a longtime inspiration to me when it comes to new ideas and creativity. Dan is a non-stop source of initiatives that actually get implemented! One lifetime will not be enough for him to realize everything that is going on in his head! I told him I was busy getting organized, but I’m going to give him a call now. I’m wondering whether anyone else who reads this will dare to tap into his creativity. Or are we all content to be insane…