I’ve made a career out of having the kind of ideas that people instantly want to hurl objections at, and over the years I’ve come to know almost every negative reaction like it was an old friend.
But there’s one objection that drives me absolutely crazy, and it’s this:
‘I’m sure it’s a brilliant idea, but let’s confine ourselves to The Real World.’
It’s the H-Bomb of objections, a devastating blow that flattens the entire discussion. It cracks the meeting into two tribes – those who operate in the real world and those who don’t – and god help you if you’re on the wrong side. And worst of all, it sounds so damn sensible, despite the fact that it reveals a staggering ignorance of human history.
Try this experiment: make a list of things you regard as part of The Real World.
Your job. Your mortgage. Your assorted debts and liabilities. Your next tax bill. Money, politics and economics. Telemarketers, junk mail, internet scams. Traffic jams and parking fines.
Real enough for ya? Now ask yourself: How many of those things started out as just ideas?
Your job exists only because somebody thought of it. Your mortgage was an idea before it was a fact. Even money was an invention, something dreamt up by human beings. The history of innovation teaches us that just about everything around us began as ideas, half-baked notions in the minds of individuals who happened to think a little differently than their more literally-minded colleagues.
Who, by the way, probably tried to kill the idea the second they heard it.
That’s because most people only let themselves see the things that already exist, which means they don’t see the things that are next, the things that the future will be made of.
Ideas come first. They always have and they always will. Whoever sees them first owns the future.
And here’s a thought: all those weird ideas that somehow managed to survive the traditional barrage of negativity and cynicism, all those ideas that then went on to become technologies and industries and cities and businesses and economies… the sum of all that invention and innovation and entrepreneurship is what we call The Real World.
That’s right. The Real World is the one we made up.
You gotta love the irony.
dave isles
maybe the challenge is to torpedo ‘human nature’ Jason?
the real world seems to be dominated by people who hate change, and like band- aid fixes.
how do me make ‘the rigid majority’ feel comfortable about uncomfortable or radical changes?
Clever psychology? Evangelism? Lies? (little white ones, not big porkies!)
Your recent offerings on human nature reinforce the view that the species is heading in the wrong direction.. the moral compass has been magnetised by greed and selfishness.
are there events in history where man has been able to push the reset button?
Jason
Hey Dave,
Two of my earlier posts might be worth checking out:
‘You Can’t Change That, It’s Human Nature’ argues that traits like greed and selfishness are NOT human nature but human CULTURE, these are learned behaviours that many of us do not have. If that’s true then can these things be unlearned? Or (for that matter) not taught in the first place? ‘How to Justify Almost Anything’ looks at our reluctance to question culture, even with regard to toxic habits that are so old they’ve become sacred. It also offers a few moments in history where the culture may have indeed been reset, although your question prompts me to think I should expand on this in future posts? I’m thinking that there’s nothing particularly eternal or inevitable about the way we are now so I should be able to find powerful examples of ‘resets’
Thanks for the comments, Dave!
dave isles
hi Jason.. i am an old fart who struggles with modern social media.. i tried without success .. can you give some hints on navigation to the older mindsatwork posts? .. the oldies seem to be worth revisting! cheers, Dave I
Jason
Hey Dave, If you’re following us on a computer go to the orange menu bar at the top of the screen and click/hold ‘blog’ to get the drop down menu of categories such as ‘Outside the Box’ ‘Inside the Box’ ‘Collaboration’ etc. Scroll down to something you like the sound of and you’ll find two or three topics – for example, (from memory) ‘Collaboration’ encompasses ‘Leadership’ and ‘Teamwork’. Click a topic you like and you’ll get a screen containing all the posts we’ve ever written for that topic; the further you scroll down that page, the earlier the post. Easy! If you’re reading us on a phone then go to the orange menu bar and click the three horizontal bars on the right side of the screen; that automatically opens up every menu within the site, including ‘Blog’ which lists all the topic areas; click one (say ‘Problem Solving’) and you’ll get every post we’ve ever done on Problem Solving (16 so far, starting with ‘The Joy of Problems’ from July 6, 2012). Hope this helps; if not, be sure to let me know!
Thanks again for taking the time to post a comment; it means a lot to us!