You’re sitting in a meeting and you have a flash of insight. You think about sharing your idea, but then something gets in the way.
Your inner critic stands up and says, “Wait a minute! You can’t say that out loud. You haven’t done any research. What if you’re wrong?”
Or suddenly you’re in second grade again, when you excitedly told your friend about your idea for a new game to play after lunch and he shot you down cold in front of everyone.
Or you think, “What if my boss thinks it’s a dumb idea?” Or “What if it’s so obvious, everyone is already thinking the same thing?”
Or worse yet: “What if I share this idea and then I have to implement it? I don’t have the skills, and I don’t have time to figure this out on top of all my other responsibilities.”
Most of us have had this experience.
In the corporate and academic worlds, there is a wide and growing gap between those who are “allowed” to speak up and share half-baked ideas—those off-the-cuff insights that feel true deep in your gut, but which you haven’t fully tested—and those who are expected to wait and go through the “proper channels.”
This is a problem. It’s a problem not only because it means less innovation in business and academics, but also because it limits who takes ownership of ideas. And ideas are the currency of thought leadership. If you think thought leaders share ONLY their fully baked ideas complete with the icing and cherry on top, let me tell you why sharing half-baked ideas is actually smarter.
Half-Baked Ideas Encourage Collaboration
You can’t be a thought leader if no one wants to follow you. And while it may seem that followers expect perfection, it turns out that perfection can actually alienate people. Unfinished but smart, emergent ideas are actually more likely to spur collaboration.
It’s easy to look at folks like Simon Sinek, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, and Gary V and see perfectly polished ideas that have been incubating for decades (and are often remixed or repackaged). And sure, these guys have huge followings, but they didn’t start out by sharing ideas like this. I would argue if they had shared such fully baked ideas right out of the gate, they wouldn’t be nearly as successful.
Truthfully, I don’t read these guys often and I certainly don’t seek out their content. These are simply names I know because they get a lot of attention. I much prefer to listen to people like Tarzan Kay, Kelly Diels, Austin Kleon, and Tara McMullin. I find the ideas they share much more accessible and inspirational.
Why? Because they aren’t afraid to share half-baked ideas. They talk about their mistakes and create and iterate in public. Whenever I read their content, I’m thinking about how I can apply their lessons or make their technique work for me.
In other words, half-baked ideas encourage engagement and collaboration.
This is one reason I always recommend that the authors I work with share the seeds of their ideas with others as they are writing their books (LinkedIn is a great testing ground for fledgling ideas). This sometimes strikes people as a bad strategy: “What if someone steals my idea?” In some cases, this is a valid concern, but in most cases, sharing a half-baked idea has more benefits than keeping it to yourself until it’s “perfect.”
Remember, all ideas start out half-baked. There’s no reason to be ashamed of your early thoughts. Anne Lamott talks about the idea of the sh*tty first draft (SFD) in her book, Bird by Bird. She says that the only way she writes anything at all is by starting with her SFD. This is where she plays with her ideas and pours out her soul without editing herself.
For me, the only way I know what I think is by starting with my SFD. If I keep an idea in my head and mull it over, it (and me!) are more likely to spiral out of control. I have to get the idea out of my brain and look at it on the page to be able to evaluate it. The big difference between Anne Lamott and me is that I want to put my SFD out into the world, not just keep it to myself.
If sharing an idea feels scary, I know I need to put it out there. It’s the only way I’ll know whether it’s worth pursuing. This has the added benefit of allowing me to sharpen my ideas on the saw of others’ feedback. My work is better because I hold it up to the light (it’s probably time for me to think about starting that Substack, huh?).
Owning Our Ideas vs. Getting Lost In Our Egos
The other benefit of sharing half-baked ideas is that you get to take ownership of them. If you’ve ever sat in a meeting holding back an idea only to watch one of your colleagues speak up about it and gain the accolades, you’ve experienced this phenomenon.
You might console yourself by thinking that only people with big egos feel comfortable sharing half-baked ideas. But the truth is that you can own your ideas without getting lost in your ego.
Sharing an idea means having a point of view, taking a stand, and planting a stake in the ground. This is hard to do when you realize you might change your mind later. But if you see your ideas as emergent, rather than settled, fear of changing your mind should be the last thing you’re worried about.
To me, this is the big difference between a subject matter expert and a Big Idea expert (my current favorite term for what others call a thought leader). Subject matter experts have big ideas, but Big Idea experts own their expertise by confidently sharing their ideas with others.
Big Idea experts aren’t afraid of what might happen if they change their minds later because they have bought into their ideas. They aren’t simply shooting from the hip; they have reasons backing up their point of view, and they respect the symbiotic relationship they have between themselves and their idea. This recognition also stops them from making an idol out of their ideas—just as humans have imperfections, so too do the ideas that we create.
I want you to own your ideas.
I want you to be confident in sharing your half-baked ideas.
But…
I also want you to realize that ideation is 95% using your big brain to analyze and synthesize information. And it’s 5% being open to receiving the right ideas at the right time.
My best ideas come to me in a flash or a moment of inspiration. Creativity isn’t all about me, and getting those ideas out of my head can be a messy and imperfect process. It’s a humbling experience, not an ego-boosting experience.
Your ideas are yours, but they aren’t yours because you invented them ex nihilo. They are yours because you are standing on the shoulders of giants, those individuals who taught you lessons that have stuck with you, influenced you. Your ideas knock on your door and bestow upon you a responsibility to bring them into the world. If you don’t share them, they might just knock on someone else’s door instead.
The Fastest Way to Get There: Exposure Therapy
Now that I’ve convinced you that sharing your half-baked ideas is smart, how do you form the habit? Sharing half-baked ideas can be scary. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like being caught off guard or being told that you’re wrong, sharing a half-baked idea means taking a risk.
When I was writing philosophy papers regularly, I often had moments where I felt absolutely paralyzed. I thought the game in grad school was to write something “iron-clad” that no one could object to, so I would do tons of research trying to find one small point that I could cling to as being 100% true. I would chase down the thread of an idea, inevitably finding objections and contrasting views, until I was questioning absolutely every sentence I tried to write.
By contrast, my colleagues who were more successful would first write down what they thought before doing any research. These were half-baked ideas that they pushed as far as they could on their own, talking to professors and other grad students, sharpening their ideas on the saw of others’ feedback, all before looking into what others had written on the subject. In other words, they bravely submitted their half-baked ideas to exposure therapy.
The clients I respect the most are also willing to submit themselves to exposure therapy. They bravely share their ideas, even when they are sitting right in the middle of figuring out their sh*t. They are unflinching in telling their stories and in sharing their half-baked ideas.
Luckily, they have me holding their hands and cheering them on, helping guide these ideas out of their brains and into the world. Nonetheless, they are my role models for becoming Big Idea experts. So the next time you’re feeling vulnerable, remind yourself that there’s a whole world to gain from sharing before you feel ready. My guess is that you’ll be surprised by the results—and, from my experience, inspired by other people’s responses.
And if you’re thinking, “Hell yeah! Bring on the exposure therapy,” come to Half-Baked Happy Hour!
Erin Braford and I are teaming up once again to create a safe container to share your big ideas. Have a book idea you’ve been kicking around? Or a few different ideas for a keynote speech? What’s the ONE thing you want people to know about you or your business? Bring your half-baked ideas to share with the group and let us help you hone your idea.
When: Thursday, March 15, 4-5pm (ET)
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3743263746
No need to register, just add it to your calendar and show up!
Image by wayhomestudio on Freepik