Writers, inventors, product developers
are always asked where their ideas come from.

For Sir James Dyson,
ideas come from terrible flaws.

In March/April’s The Costco Connection
he shares

“We always look for products
with some kind of terrible flow.
If we cannot dramatically improve
the way something works,
we won’t touch it.

Sometimes it’s the realization of the flaw
that drives us to develop the technology,
as with the dual cyclone.

Sometimes it’s the other way round;
we’ll have the technology and
observe that it could be good
for something else.

That is what happened with Airblade.
We had been developing
a fast-moving sheet of air
for something else
and realized that it could be used
for scraping water off your hands.”

Have you seen some terrible flaws?
Can you correct them?

Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo,
made headlines recently
for her memo to employees
requesting they come into the office.

We talked about telecommuting last week.
This post isn’t about that,
not really.
It is about assigning blanket solutions
for all employees, all companies.

A friend is a salesman.
His company doesn’t have
an official telecommuting policy.
His manager, however,
has a meet the client policy.
He tells his employees
if he sees them in the office too often,
he knows they’re not doing their jobs,
meeting with clients
or prospective clients.

If the best employee
to solve your business problems
lives across the country
and can do the job remotely,
it is foolish to force her
to come to the office.

If potential customers gather
at coffee shops, college campuses,
grocery stores,
wouldn’t these locations be better sites
for your product development meetings
than your office?

Where your employees work
should WORK
for your employees, your customers,
your business.

The ideal romance couple
has differences
(which creates excitement)
but at the core,
they’re the same,
working toward the same goals.
At the end of the novel,
they’re together,
in the same happy place.

We often talk
about how the business partners
we choose
should bring different skills and personalities,
strengths and weaknesses,
to the partnership.

This doesn’t mean
we should have nothing in common
with our partners.
We should have the same vision,
the same goals,
the same definition of success.

Ensure your business partners
are traveling in the same direction
as you are.

Google’s Chief Financial Officer,
Patrick Pichette,
isn’t a fan
of the working from home movement.

Why?

As he shares

“There is something magical
about sharing meals.
There is something magical
about spending the time together,
about noodling on ideas,
about asking at the computer
‘What do you think of this?’

These are magical moments that
we think at Google
are immensely important
in the development of your company,
of your own personal development
and building much stronger communities.”

Of course,
working from home
doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

A loved one spends
at least one day a week at the office,
working the rest of the week
at home.
He has the best of both worlds.

Working from home,
like any strategy,
isn’t suitable for all careers, all businesses.
Do what is best for YOUR career/company.

Failure almost always comes before success.
Successful people know this,
they accept this,
they often expect this.

As Lewis Schiff
shares
“Indeed, the “normal” psychological reaction
to failure is to distract yourself
and do something completely different
right away.

But extremely-successful entrepreneurs
typically defy this “normal” reaction.
They go back and
try again at things they fail at.

That’s because they often believe in something
I call the “failure faith,”
a powerful conviction that
every setback offers vital lessons
that could not be learned any other way.”

If you want success,
learn how to embrace failure.

Two years ago,
four writing buddies and I
started working
what we half-jokingly call
the world domination plan.

At that time,
we were below mid list
eBook exclusive writers.

Today,
four of the five of us
have book deals with New York Publishers
(the Fortune 500 or rather Fortune 5 of publishing).
Three of us will be proving our sales first
in eBook format.
One of us will go straight to print.
(One of us has put her writing career on hold)

That’s after a mere two years
of concentrating on our careers,
of pushing each other to achieve.

I’m an extremely driven person
but I know I wouldn’t have pushed so hard
if they hadn’t kept me honest,
telling me to write 500 more words,
to submit my stories to one more publisher,
to answer a call for submission
I was certain I didn’t have time to answer.

Two years of concentrated effort
has made a big difference in my career.
The support of four other people
with their own views of success
has also made a difference.

Draft your own world domination plan
and then WORK it.

Billy Crystal is known
for being one of the best hosts
in Oscar history.

So what do you do
if you’re asked to be the host
the Oscars?

If you’re Seth MacFarlane,
you seek advice from the best.

Seth MacFarlane shares
“I talked to Billy Crystal,
and he was a super nice guy
and genuinely helpful,
took time out of his schedule
to sit down with me.
I came out of it
with some practical, practical stuff.”

Getting advice from your predecessor
makes sense in any role
even or ESPECIALLY
if your predecessor screwed up.

A big publisher made
a call for submission
in a certain genre
(this is an urgent request for stories
with a specific theme).

I read in this genre
but I don’t write in it.
I passed the call along to a writing buddy.
She got so excited about the call,
she blanked out on ideas.
Hey, that happens!

I gave her one of my ideas.
I’ll never use it
as I don’t write in that genre
(I have great opportunities
in my own genres).
She tweaked it
and is happily writing.

Writers, entrepreneurs,
professionals in all creative fields,
usually have more ideas
than they can possibly use.
If you’re stuck,
ASK.

The worst that can happen
is they say no.

And, of course,
pass along opportunities you can’t use.
That’s how you build world domination alliances.

I watched a special on
CMT (Country Music Television)
and a bunch of songwriters were talking about
how hard it is to sell songs
because of the trend
toward singer-songwriters.

The next day,
I watched a special on
country music star Alan Jackson.
He explained that the main reason
he started writing songs solo
was because he was touring so much,
he couldn’t afford the time
to go to Nashville
and sit down with songwriters.

Blaming a trend is lazy thinking.
Trends and yes, even fads,
start for a reason.
Experienced romance writers can tell you
why vampires were popular two years ago
and why 50 Shades of Grey is popular now.

Know your business.
Know why trends are occurring.
Figure out a way to benefit
or to sidestep a trend
(like virtually meeting with singers).

When I’m in,
what I call,
the writing cave,
nothing disturbs me.
A train could roll behind my chair
and I wouldn’t notice.

The writing cave isn’t a place.
It is a mindset.
When I’m writing,
I’m writing.
I’m not checking email.
I’m not thinking about dinner.
The only thing in my head
is the story.

In May 2012’s
Men’s Health,
Matt Kemp shares

“Sometimes you’ll have a bad at-bat
and then take your anger into the field
and misplay a fly ball.
Or you’ll make an error in the field
and then do something wrong
on the base paths.

What Davey
[the Dodgers First Base Coach]
stressed was,

‘When you’re a hitter,
be a hitter.
Block everything else out.

Whatever you’re doing,
focus on what you need to do in that role.
Don’t carry over negative feelings.’”

Focus is very powerful.
Develop it.
Use it.