Bad ideas can lead to great stories.

Today, I stood up at a networking session and pitched a terrible idea. I pitched it as a terrible idea - in fact, I pitched that I believe in the power of bad ideas to create good ideas and engagement. And I didn’t reveal the idea until the end. 

Because it’s not about the idea itself. It’s about the process. It’s about being relaxed and open to sharing whatever comes to mind, especially when you know it’s not THE idea. Why? It could lead to it, it could spark a thought in someone else that leads to it, and it’s fun. Not taking yourself too seriously, even when you’re doing serious work, changes the vibe and takes the stress down. 

While the stress of a looming deadline might feel like good stress that forces you to focus and get it done, stress and creativity don’t mix well - it narrows attention, increases fatigue, makes people risk-averse, which leads to safe ideas - not big ideas, not ideas so ridiculous that they’re brilliant. And these days, when anyone can get a mediocre idea in moments, we need to think bigger. And if a bad idea can help lighten the mood, think out of the box, and laugh, why not?

So that bad idea that I pitched? Cat hair gel. Tuna flavoured. 

It got some laughs. It started conversations. And made connections. And as someone smartly pointed out, the tuna flavour might prove counterintuitive as cats would like it off too quickly.