Get Ideas From Those Around You
Some of the greatest ideas have come from the unlikeliest of places. One idea I am personally grateful for is the origin of my all-time favorite desserts. If your favorite cookie is chocolate chip, then you should praise Ruth Graves Wakefield for her mistakes in the kitchen.
Wakefield and her husband, Kenneth, owned Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass. Wakefield prepared the recipes and cooked for the inn’s guests. One day in 1930, Wakefield had a problem. She was out of baker’s chocolate for her scrumptious Butter Drop Do cookies. Surely, her guests would be upset. Wakefield had to quickly come up with a chocolate substitute. She came up with the idea to break up a bar of Nestle’s semisweet chocolate into tiny chunks and mix them into her cookie batter. She assumed that the chocolate would melt, spread into the dough as it baked, and create a chocolate-flavored cookie. That, of course, didn’t happen. When Wakefield took the cookies out of the oven, she noticed that the chocolate chunks only melted slightly, holding their shape and forming a creamy texture. The guests loved them. Wakefield’s chocolate chip cookies began attracting people from all over New England. After her recipe appeared in a Boston newspaper, Nestle gained a huge spike in sales. Everyone wanted Nestle’s semisweet chocolate bars to make Wakefield’s cookies. And so a marketing deal was struck. Andrew Nestle agreed to give Wakefield a lifetime supply of the chocolate in return for her recipe printed on every Nestle semisweet chocolate bar.
Leaders are idea seekers. They are always on the search for people with constructive input and creativity. Ideas are catalysts that make the future better. They are more valuable than wealth. After all, wealth is generated from great ideas. I believe everyone is only one idea away from a major breakthrough in their life. One idea can change everything about your future. It can mean the difference financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. An idea can change the course of your life and the lives of those around you.
“One idea can change everything about your future.”
Everything you see and use started because of an idea. The chair you are sitting in came from an idea, the book or device you are reading this on came from an idea, the building you are in right now came from an idea, this idea of having ideas came from an idea. Basically everything we know in life originally came from an idea, and if that idea was never thought of you would not have the luxury of its result. Ideas are what make the quality of life better and our world a greater place. All it takes is one idea for someone to go from average to good, and then from good to great. Jim Rohn said, “Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.”
Ideas open the door for creative opportunities. If there is one skill I think everyone, and I mean everyone, should grow in is the ability to think of ideas. One will only be limited by the number of ideas they are able to come up with in life. The more ideas someone has the more opportunity they will have. The fewer ideas someone has the less opportunity they have for great things to happen to them and through them.
If you want to become limitless in what you do then get ideas. The more you grow your ability to get ideas the more you will experience greater success. Growing into greater opportunities is about growing ideas. Leaders give others opportunities to share their ideas and their thoughts. They work together to create a successful collaboration.
If you’re looking for great ideas for leadership development check out my book LEADOLOGY: 12 Ideas To Level Up Your Leadership. This will give you some fresh creative insight to lead better.
