Measuring Your Good Ideas

When Steve Holmes, a Canadian businessman, needed to decide if he would invest in commercializing the spring-free trampoline, the first thing he did was have his kids jump on it to see their reaction.

So, he asked the inventor, Keith Alexander, to ship a trampoline to him. Nothing bizarre, except the two men didn’t really know each other, and Alexander, who lived in New Zealand, had never shipped anything internationally. So, it was a big deal for him.

So, to help Alexander, Holmes offered $10,000. Six weeks later, the prototype of the trampoline made it to his home. His kids loved it. Very soon, there wasn’t a kid in the neighborhood who didn’t want to jump on it.

“When it comes to a good idea, I believe you measure it by the reaction of the people you sell it to.”, said Steve Holmes.

Test it as soon as you can. I believe this principle applies to anything. So, instead of waiting for it to be done, it’s crucial to try your strategic narrative at the earliest opportunity. That’s how you know if it will work.

Even more important, testing your narrative as you’re not done building it yet lets people co-create it with you–assuming you’re open to receiving and using their feedback, of course. And that’s big because what people help make becomes their own.

Why wait for your strategic narrative to be done for people in your team to try and adopt it? There is no reason.

Measuring your good ideas can’t wait.