My friend Arpit Mathur posted a great piece today on ideas and implementation: “On ideas, implementation and iteration”. I can relate to this – including the self admonition to hunker down and execute.

The following three links try to make an additional point on what an idea needs – partners. People who have different perspectives from which ideas can clash, evolve, and grow. There is an opportunity in sought out diversity of background and opinion to make something that much stronger.

Or to put it another way, if your project has its Lennon, does it also have its McCartney?

YouTube: “Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From” (via Boing Boing):

Slate: Joshua Wolf Shenk: Two Is the Magic Number: A new science of creativity.: “a new body of research has begun to show how growth and achievement emerge from relationships”.

And while this last link is not centered on ideas and creativity, it applies directly if you take the above to heart I think:

The Most Powerful Word In The Human Vocabulary: Perspective:

Choosing a career path is tough, and the education system doesn’t make it much easier. They try to guide you towards one of these worlds that exists on our planet. The problem is that most of the time, schools don’t understand the unique perspective of their students, and they don’t adapt their needs to the situation. This is why finding your passion is so important. Passion is not the be-all-end-all, but rather the guiding force that allows us to make the right decisions as we travel through life. Finding your passion, connecting with your tribe and achieving your goals are the steps that you must take in order to find a career that you will find rewarding. But having a sense of perspective for the world around you allows you to understand that your opportunities are endless.

Never let someone with little perspective guide you away from your passion. Next time you have a conversation with someone who doesn’t understand why you are doing what you are doing, try to understand their perspective. How were they raised? What was their path in life? This will often let you understand why they are making the statements they are. By getting this, you can understand where they are coming from. People that are not in your world will very often not have the same perspective to you. Remember, that’s what makes the world so unique and wonderful.

This post is pretty much me talking to myself as I have a few coals in the fire and some additional perspective will go a long way, but I think the links are inspiring and hope you enjoy.

Update: Arpit shares a link that in some ways reinforces the idea above: WSJ: “The Origins of Good Ideas” – “the adjacent possible.”.

http://dailylocal.com/articles/2010/09/24/opinion/srv0000009463806.txt