When a Great Idea... Isn’t Enough!
August 2026
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Sir Isaac Newton 1643-1727
“WOW, that sure is a great idea!” We have ALL heard that one before! But just what makes a great idea a truly great idea? We would all agree that great ideas need to be desirable, feasible, viable, and not a distraction? Not every idea we might have can be classified as a great idea, although they might initially sound like one. Regardless of how much the idea personally appeals to us, is it something that we can do that will last and therefore be viable over an extended time, or is it a flash in the pan great idea?
Many years ago, KFC sold rotisserie chicken. I loved it! Consequently, after a period of time, I bought an entire rotisserie chicken program for one of my restaurants! The very next week, KFC pulled all rotisserie chicken equipment from their restaurants. OH, OH!!! While I still thought it was a great idea, it was obviously not viable and was certainly not feasible. It was, in my career, a great flash in the pan idea. Our customers did not want rotisserie chicken from a restaurant! The entire rotisserie chicken program fell to Costco and the grocery stores of the world. For them it was very viable, and I still liked the product on occasion. In this case, however, I failed to do my research. Instead, I made a hasty decision based on how much I liked the product. Bad idea and lesson learned! I did not talk to my team enough. Most of them either stayed quiet or maybe joined in my enthusiasm. Either way, I should have at least looked for a devil’s advocate. The next time I did more research and my due diligence before I jumped on the next “great” idea.
Where do great ideas come from? Sometimes they come from extensive “ping pong matches” between you and the folks standing on your shoulders and sometimes from those on whose shoulders you stand. An idea that is perhaps not so great at first, even if you think it is, may become an “idea enhancer” once you bounce it back and forth between your team members. Keep ping ponging it and you may well see your idea morph into something more than you imagined. There was a fellow I once knew that always had ideas. A good thing. The problem was that HE always thought ALL HIS ideas were great, and some were. It just seemed that those were the only ideas that he was enthused about. No ping ponging, except maybe with those he knew would agree with him. Also, it was important to him that it was HIS idea and his idea alone. He did end up with some good ideas but many of them would have been so much better with the help of people around him, and he had some ideas that were simply never even good ideas. I was obviously guilty of that with my rotisserie chicken program. Most ideas can be improved with other people’s help. Even that devil’s advocate you have hanging around can be invaluable in a good old ping pong match. Great ideas with great people lead to greater success and greater team environment.
I have mentioned this in previous letters, but as I continued my journey, I noticed that many businesses still failed even with seemly great ideas, great financing, and great people. It was curious to say the least. As I got closer to some of these businesses that failed, it came to me that I should start looking at those that did not fail. Then it struck me, successful businesses not only have great ideas, but they also have great operating systems: supply, manufacturing, distribution, communication, product handling, people training and on and on. It is the systems in place that can turn a great idea into a success. Operating systems serve as the “glue” to hold it all together, otherwise it will all start to “slide.” So, remember that the “great operating systems” are the foundations of these “great ideas.” Make sense? Thoughts??
Maybe we have not touched all the bases on “great ideas” in this short article, but hopefully there are at least some “good ideas” here for you to consider.
“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”
Marie Curie paraphrased
Michael M. Carney mr.mikecarney@gmail.com
A special thank you to my support team!
You can share this post to any Social Media platform or share the link with colleagues and friends by clicking the share button in the upper portion of this post. We welcome you to share with anyone and help us spread the word of Shoulders of Giants!
Comments