How can we keep generating "Great Ideas"?

Continuing from my previous essay describing "Great Ideas," I think there are several steps to continuously create "Great Ideas" in an organization. Those steps are: 1) Challenge new things. 2) Be optimistic and confident that you will be successful. 3) Do not give up on the new thing even if you face difficulties. 4) Be open to and flexible about ideas from anyone. 5) Build on the idea. 6) Execute the idea. 7) Face the next higher level challenge. These steps will lead to better ideas until you get to a great one.

My belief in diversity is that it helps build an upward spiral along with the steps above. Uniformity of people tends to create a repetitive loop instead of a spiral. Japanese people have this tendency to stay in a loop, so, to avoid getting into the trap, I emphasize on diversity. However, there is one thing we need to be careful of.

We have a tendency of disliking ideas that are not created by us or someone we admire. Having this in mind, we should not tag the ideas with "whose idea it is," but with "what the idea is about." This can be more difficult than we imagine. Think about if someone who you had never admired said something unique and valuable; can you easily accept the idea?

To be fair, removing "Not Invented by Me" (NIM) is the challenge. We have to look into the content of the idea, then build on that, until no one can really realize "whose" idea it originally was. This is also a key to a successful and diverse organization which can keep on creating "Great Ideas."