Imagine this: You walk into checkin counter with your economy class ticket thinking about the seven hour flight that is in front of you. The person at the counter smiles at you and says that you have got a free upgrade to first class – no strings attached.
What will be your feeling?
I am sure you will be thrilled. In simple terms, the person at the counter would have made your day.
But this rarely happens in real life. Usually you need to pay for an upgrade either cash or via your miles. Even when you get a free upgrade it is as the result of asking for a courtesy upgrade and rarely something is offered for free.
I can see a clear parallel in our daily life.
For instance, when you discuss an early stage idea with someone, the kinds of responses you will get vary a lot. Here are a few of them:
- You don’t think anyone can take this forward, sorry.
- You don’t think you can take this forward.
- You can take this forward only with a million dollars.
- You can take this forward after you get hold of
- You can’t take this forward as someone already has a better offering
- There is no point in taking this forward as we have missed the boat
- Why do you want to take this forward. This looks like hard work and there is no guarantee of succeeding.
- Why take this forward? I am sure (Amazon/Google/Apple) is already working on something similar.
- I think we can take this forward. Here are things you can do to take this forward tomorrow.
- It’s a ground floor idea. Count me in and let me know how can I help?
The last two will remind you of the person behind the counter who made your day. They are golden. While they are offering free upgrades, don’t take them for granted. The more you take care of them, more they are inclined to offer better upgrades.
Time to think:
Are you one of those who offers free upgrades for ideas. If yes, thank you. If not, why not?
If you help someone with an idea to take this forward, you are not only helping them, but you are also helping yourself. Just like you build your muscles by exercising them, you build your “idea and execution muscles” by working and executing on ideas. The more you do it, the better you will be at it.
Photo Courtesy: grrlTravels on Flickr