• A big idea sets a fresh direction. A blockbuster idea is somewhat like a deep-space probe. You have no idea what you’ll hear back . . . where from . . . or when. But, a tiny, imaginative flicker on the screen could change the whole course of history.
  

• A big idea sets a fresh direction. A blockbuster idea is somewhat like a deep-space probe. You have no idea what you’ll hear back . . . where from . . . or when. But, a tiny, imaginative flicker on the screen could change the whole course of history.

• A big idea has traction. It moves forward by attracting and attaching the input of others. Vibrant ideas have an almost organic grip. Think Lego plastic bricks. One reason they’re so reliable in modeling both structures and ideas is because they have what’s called “clutch power.”

• It can be communicated with a minimum of words; and as much as possible, through simple and compelling visual images. A big idea is tangible. You can feel it throb, but not like a headache. Your prospects of ever hearing a response to your idea rely on how simply and effectively you communicate it. (The same awareness prevailed when Carl Sagan and his crew deliberated so carefully about the contents of the Golden Record sent aboard the Voyager spacecrafts.)

• Big ideas crackle with energy. A vigorous idea activates positive energy, even – maybe especially – when it tackles a negative issue. What can we do to make something better? A big idea is ever on the prowl for high-potential solutions to nagging problems.

• It has the structural robustness of a good foundation. Visualize massive load-bearing strength. We may be amazed by the height of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest structure. The real knockout number may be the more than 100,000 tons of concrete pumped into its foundation. Now think of a big idea rocketing through cyberspace. It may need incredible thrust for lift-off. Consider this analogy: The solid fuel booster used to launch the space shuttle only functioned for 124 seconds but this foundation weighed more than a million pounds!

• A great idea has plenty of “surface area” which can be prospected and developed. You don’t have to walk down a tedious, detailed path of intricate reasoning or personal research to get to a conclusion. In this sense, a big idea is more like a dirigible than a streamlined spaceship. Imagine a huge blimp cruising, its skin upholstered with a massive message board and legions of people posting thoughtful comments to solve important problems.

• A good idea’s provenance is absolutely unimportant. Who thought the idea up – the label on the package – doesn’t matter at all. Idea originators of the past spent a great deal of time developing authority prelaunch. The opposite is now true. The real evolution happens out there. It’s not incubated in the brain of the person originating the idea. The new world of ideas is democracy at its very best!

Tags: 7 Vital, Big Social Idea, blockbuster idea, Body Building, Burj Khalifa, Carl Sagan, clutch power, cyberspace, deep-space probe, democracy, Dubai, fresh direction, Golden Record, good foundation, high-potential solutions, incubated in the brain, intricate reasoning, label on the package, legions of people, lego, message board, organic, originators, positive energy, posting, provenance, real evolution, simon says, structural robustness, surface area, traction, vibrant ideas, Viral Traits, visual images.

Ideas go in and out of fashion.  Any fool knows that.
A far more interesting premise: It’s not just ideas that lose their shine. A certain species of idea may be on the rise or decline.
Through the twentieth century, thinkers specialized in A-to-Z idea packages that tied together a consolidated picture of something with a neat little bow.   We had the Theory of Relativity and Keynesian Economics .  .  . Nouvelle Cuisine and zone-defense football . . . not to mention political philosophies galore.
Civilization has favored handing out medals for complete systems of thought.
Not any more: The big idea of today is fundamentally open-ended.
Today’s big ideas are crowd sourcing friendly.
That’s not to say crowd sourcing is a totally new approach. Back in 1714, for instance, the English parliament created a Longitude Prize. It offered enticing rewards for seafaring apps and handed out thousands of pounds for easy, reliable methods to compute a ship’s longitude and improve shipping safety. Critical advances resulted.
The Longitude Prize was a way of asking the right question, but the parliamentarians didn’t have Web 2.0 to put the question out on everyone’s screen. Modern technology makes asking exactly the right question what big ideas are all about.
Today’s platinum-grade idea is an engaging platform that can be shot into cyberspace and whirl around in millions of minds. Aggregations of kindred ideas germinate at lightning speed into kaleidoscopic thought constellations.
Wikipedia . . . the iPhone . . . or, the millions of beta-testers Microsoft crowd sourced to refine Office 2010.
Wikipedia is an unbeatable example.
Between March 2000 and the end of 2001, Wikipedia exploded from being a novel idea to a reality with entries in 18 languages. By August 2009, Wikipedia was adding an average of 1,300 articles a day. It has amassed an estimated 15 million entries today.
As a comparison, the French philosopher Denis Diderot labored with limited collaborators for some 22 years – often pitted against police censors – before the finals volumes of his groundbreaking encyclopedia appeared in French in 1772 with 70,000 articles.
The critical difference between Diderot and Wikipedia: The ability of technology to harness the efforts and passions of thousands and thousands of volunteers to fill in the blanks.
Behind-the-scenes people are increasingly the heroes on the modern idea landscape.  However, it takes a new breed of pioneers – like Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger – to ask the right question and issue the invitation.
Have a big idea? Terrific! Have another. You probably can. Fixation is likely the result if you don’t keep cooking in the idea kitchen.
“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have,” wrote another French philosopher, Emile Chartier. A caution worth heeding.

Tags: A-to-Z idea packages, beta-testers, constellations, crowdsourcing, cyberspace, Denis Diderot, Emile Chartier, engaging platform, fashion, iPhone, Jimmy Wales, kaleidoscopic, Keynesian Economics, Larry Sanger, Longitude Prize, Microsoft, modern idea landscape, Nouvelle Cuisine, platinum-grade idea, police censors, political philosphies, simon says, Theory of Relativity, wikipedia, zone-defense football.