Cecilia Weckstrom

This wonderful quote sums it up beautifully:

“He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his candle at mine, receives light without darkening me.”                     Thomas Jefferson 1813

[Alex Tabarrok: How ideas trump economic crises -- a surprising lesson from 1929 - see it here http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/525 ]

Ideas are not precious, it’s what you do with them that matters. Companies win or fail based on how good they are at running with ideas and bringing them to market. Great ideas are everywhere, but oftentimes they are killed before anything useful come of them. That experience discourages many of us from having more ideas, and it shouldn’t.

Half the challenge of a creative is to find the fertile ground where ideas can take root and grow. Not all soil is fertile, and not always is the right time of the year to sow seeds and even if you get both right, you might have to wait a while before you can harvest the crop. That and more is part of the fun of being a creative, but never ever should we start skimping on ideas. Having them allows us to have many more ideas, which in turn lead to even more ideas. At some point one has to choose what to run with, because the pleasure of seeing an idea maturing to the finished article is what gives us sustenance to continue. But it all starts with how we think about ideas.