Stop thinking so hard and start hunting for good ideas.
That's the message of The Idea Hunters, a 2011 book by Andy Boynton of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and Bill Fischer of IMD in Switzerland.
The book discusses how luminaries from Steve Jobs to Warren Buffett were always looking for good ideas that they could buy, share, steal, or simply study.
As Jack Welch said: "Someone, somewhere, has a better idea."
Sam Walton
The Wal-Mart founder was relentless in conversation. Here's what retail consultant Kurt Barnard said of his first encounter with Sam Walton in 1967:
"When he meets you, he looks at you — head cocked to one side, forehead slightly creased — and he proceeds to extract every piece of information in your possession. He always makes little notes. And he pushes on and on ... After two and a half hours, he left, and I was totally drained. I wasn't sure what I had just met, but I was sure we would hear more from him."
He would even look for ideas in other people's stores. Walmart's former COO Don Soderquist describes the second time he met Walton:
"The next day was Saturday, and I went shopping, dressed in a pair of mangy cutoff jeans — at the Kmart near my house. I walked over into the apparel section and saw this guy talking to one of the clerks. I thought, 'Jeez, that looks like that guy I met yesterday. What the heck is he doing way out here?' I strolled up behind him, and I could hear him asking this clerk, 'Well, how frequently do you order? ... Uh-huh ... How much do you order?' ... He's writing everything she says down in a little blue spiral notebook. Then Sam gets down on his hands and knees and he's looking under this stack table, and he opens the sliding doors and says, 'How do you know how much you've got under here when you're placing that order?'
"Finally, I said, 'Sam Walton, is that you?' And he looked up from the floor and said, 'Oh, Don! Hi! What are you doing here?' I said, 'I'm shopping. What are you doing?' And he said, 'Oh, this is just part of the educational process. That's all.'"
Quotes were found in The Idea Hunter by Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer, unless otherwise specified.
Albert Einstein
The man who developed the general theory of relatively said of himself: "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."
In fact Albert Einstein delivered many great quotes on the importance of curiosity:
"Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it."
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."
"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
"There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle."
More here.
Quotes were found in The Idea Hunter by Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer, unless otherwise specified.
Scott Cook
Intuit founder Scott Cook came up with Quicken after listening to his wife complain about paying bills and balancing the checkbook.
The software entrepreneur lived for these kind of insights. Here's how he was described by writer Michael S. Hopkins:
"Listening, he seems to forget himself. He seems composed of pure curiosity. He's like a man who always expects that the next thing someone — anyone — tells him might be the most surprising and enlightening thing he's heard. He listens without blinking. He learns."
Quotes were found in The Idea Hunter by Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer, unless otherwise specified.
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