Ideas, including good ones, come naturally to human beings. As Robert Tucker said: “Anyone who has ever taken a shower has had a good idea.” But good ideas are only the starting point for innovation.

No less an authority than Joseph Schumpeter put it this way: “to carry any improvement into effect is a task entirely different from the inventing of it, and a task, moreover, requiring entirely different kinds of aptitudes.” In other words, it takes work to turn good ideas into something helpful and profitable.

Get Ideas from Everywhere
Human beings naturally have good ideas. They’ll share them with you if you let them. But if you shoot down or ridicule every new idea you hear, people will stop sharing ideas with you.

Companies that produce lots of innovation start with ideas. They encourage idea sharing. As Jack Welch recommends, they get every brain in the game.

They also know that most great ideas don’t sound so great at first. Great ideas become great as people work at molding them and shaping them and stretching them into useful form.

To get as many ideas as possible, create a climate where people can share ideas. They won’t all be great ones. But some will and that’s all you need. The other advantage of getting ideas from everyone is that you’ll benefit from ideas you didn’t have to develop yourself.