Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings…

This is a guest article by Manish Singhal.Over the last few days, I have had the opportunity to evaluate many ideas for new ventures as a jury member of Power Of Ideas campaign by the Times Group. The process has left me enriched and feeling good about the varied ideas and potential of people around us.

As I was finishing the evaluation process, I realized that there was a common thread between the ideas that didn’t make it through. It wasn’t as if the ideas by themselves were not great but reading through them, I felt that the promoters had not done enough to test the feasibility of their ideas nor worked out the practical challenges in using that idea to start a business. Some of them actually seemed like ideas thrown over the wall.

Knowing this, when I looked at all the selected ideas, I found a common thread again. The ideas had been worked upon, the applications showed the hard work that had gone into thrashing the ideas out and taking it to a level from where “the brilliant idea can become a viable business! ”

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.” – Andre MalrauxAn idea is a thought, nebulous, with no physical being. Only when we work on it, define and develop it, can we bring it forward into the here and now! The process of refining and retuning the idea for the practicalities of the physical world is the one thing that can help us bring the idea to fruition, and achieve the desired results. Else it may very well remain a dream, unfulfilled and unachieved.

The plans and the backup plans, the analysis of the situation, all of these have to be done thoroughly before success will come knocking at the door of our idea. An idea may be revolutionary, but till the time it is applied it does not bring about any revolution. Only when we follow it to its logical end, do we see the actual result. As Arnold H. Glasgow says “Ideas not coupled with action never become bigger than the brain cells they occupied”.

The same concept applies to our journey of excellence as well whether in terms of ideas, resolutions, plans or promises. Thoughts do not achieve their worth, unless worked on. A resolution not followed seriously cannot give us any tangible result. Similarly all our good intentions and promises are useless if we don’t follow up on them with concrete action.

In other words, definitely give your ideas wings – they are needed to take you higher – however, do add a landing gear to make them really count!

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, …” — Swami Vivekananda

Manish is an accomplished and proven leader having worn many hats including those of a strategist, technologist, operations & process champion, mentor and counselor. His intuitive understanding of businesses and penchant to make it simple has helped him successfully navigate and resolve very complex business problems with a unique blend of "whatever it takes" and “do it right" approach. In his career spanning multiple yrs, Manish has been in techno-managerial roles across different companies like Sling Media, Ittiam and Motorola. Manish is also on the jury and mentor panel for The Power of Ideas, the Times Group initiative for entrepreneurs. He has now stepped off the corporate ladder and start Saarthi, his own consultancy business.

Saarthi’s mission is to enable success for businesses as well as individuals. Under the hood, it is a technology and management consulting company with a strong focus on enabling start-ups. To take an idea to a business, one needs several dimensions coming together and Saarthi helps supplement this skill set as required.  http://www.saarthiconsulting.com/