If so, you’re not alone. I’m right there with you! And the good news is, you have a special and significant gift. Change is always preceded by thought. As Robin Sharma said, “Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.”

Some of us are naturally wired to generate ideas easily. But I also believe the ability to ideate is part of all of us. It’s a muscle that grows with stimulation.

If you identify as an idea person – or are looking to better steward the quality and quantity of your ideas – here are some strategies you might consider.

Find a Time and Place to Let Your Ideas Flow

If you are an idea person, your ideas will never stop flowing, but without intentionality, the complexity of daily life (and especially work life) can become an enormous choke point that limits the quantity (and quality) of ideas you can consistently generate. One way to give your ideas an outlet is to have a time and place to let them flow. You might take walks or block a certain time during the week. I’ve discovered my best ideas come when I’m mowing the lawn.

Record Your Ideas

A mental note is worth something but an actual note not only provides your idea with a reference point, it forces you to better articulate the thought itself. You might place a journal on your desk or by your bed. Or an electronic notebook on your phone. It’s amazing how periodically reading through old ideas can help you generate new ones.

Set Idea Goals

In college, I asked a classmate turned musician how he was able to write so many songs. He replied that he had a goal of writing one song per week. Some were crummy but some were good. You might set a goal of one new idea per day. Or a number of them per week or month. Having a goal can also help you evaluate whether your circumstances are enhancing or stifling your creative flow.

Let Your Ideas Go

Practical folks will tell you your ideas aren’t feasible. And many times they are correct! But that’s not the point of generating ideas. Often, you need to get through many impractical ideas in order to find the inspired ones. True idea people generate many more ideas than they could ever act upon. So don’t be afraid to generate a new idea, give it a mental high five and then leave it as you move on.

Pick Your Ideas Carefully

In order to execute your ideas effectively, as your creativity grows, so must your critical thinking. You cannot possibly execute on all your ideas. You must choose the few with the most promise. This means selecting the ones that increase your effectiveness, lead to a new breakthrough, or enable you to “fail forward” if they do not work out.

Share with the Right People

Not everyone appreciates a hearing a spontaneous new idea. But at some point your ideas may benefit from:

• Fellow Idea People: They help brainstorm and generate new ideas with you.
• Cheerleaders: They cheer you on for most (if not all) ideas you share with them, even if they are not involved.
• Critical Thinkers: They help you evaluate the quality of your idea for the purpose of execution.
• Teammates: They help you execute on the idea.

Don’t confuse one group with another. And if your confidence or self-assurance is shaky, be careful who you share your best ideas with.

Separate Your Ideas from Your Identity

You are not your idea. So if someone trashes your idea, or if your idea doesn’t work, you can simply reply, “Well, it was just an idea” and move on to the next one.

Treat Detail People Like Royalty

It’s a beautiful (and maddening) reality of life that people with opposite strengths need each other in order to be effective. Without detail people to organize ideas into actionable tasks, idea people would be lost. It’s crucial to appreciate the skills and involvement of the people who help you execute. After all, if it weren’t for them, you’d be stuck.

Accept the Responsibility to Lead

Another simple reality of life is that if enough of your ideas are good ones, you will eventually be invited into a formal leadership role. Why? Because vision precedes action – and vision can’t be outsourced. But if your leadership skills don’t match the quality of your ideas, it won’t be a fun experience, either for your or your followers. So invest in growing your leadership skills at the same time as you develop your idea skills.

Victor Hugo once famously stated, “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” I believe it is easier in this day in age for any person to contribute an idea that changes the course of history than ever before. Who is to say the next great idea can’t be yours?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader. Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or follow him on Twitter.

It’s been well over a decade since Malcolm Gladwell published his bestseller The Tipping Point. In it, he explains that it’s not the quality of the idea itself, but the quality of three key ingredients that cause the idea to tip. If you haven’t read the book, below are the items (hint: they’re people) as well as a few strategies to employ.

The Three Key People Your Idea Needs

Mavens A “maven” is a true expert – someone with the expertise to walk the talk. Not all ideas require someone who has been there before (otherwise, the only innovation we’d experience would be accidental), but for an idea to “tip,” it requires a person with knowledge to match the challenge.

Salesmen Every idea needs a persuader – someone who can sell the idea to the unconvinced. Not everyone has the desire to sell – or can. It’s more than just smooth talking, it’s the ability to charm the resisters and infuse them with irresistible energy around the idea.

Connectors Connectors are only the folks with broad circles and well maintained networks. But they take it a step further – they have a knack for seeing and bringing the right folks to any given table.

What You Must Do on Behalf of Your Idea

Identify which “key person” you may be. You can’t be all three critical people. You may not be any of them. But you likely align closest with one of the three types.

Take inventory of your network. You don’t have to be a connector to have a network. Anyone launching an idea in the 21st century needs a network. Identify the key individuals in your circle who also have the interest and context to play a role.

Enlist the missing ingredients. Put your idea in the hands of the people who can send it into orbit. If you’re concerned about owning the idea, you’ll have to do the majority of the work yourself. If you need to get the credit for it, you’ll be limited to your own abilities and circle of influence.

Generating ideas is hard enough (make no mistake – it’s work). But it’s often invisible. Once you find an idea, it’s time for action. The people you enlist to help will make the difference in whether or not your idea is able to launch.

“Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

So how can knowledge actually be a curse? Consider a few of the ways.

Jump to Conclusions

Once we gain a degree of knowledge in a certain area, it’s difficult to resist making assumptions that we now know best what to do. Unconscious bias can cloud our rationale. In times of change (which is all the time), the methods of the past won’t always produce the same results in the future. Just because we’ve experienced success doesn’t mean we can blindly approach new situations in the same old ways.

Lose Inquisitive Spirit

Because the curse of knowledge by definition includes existing insight, it’s impossible for an expert to approach a situation as a newcomer. Where rookies default to research and external thought leadership, veterans default to their own experiences. Maintaining an inquisitive spirit is extremely difficult and can seem like a waste of time if we’re already confident we can score at least a passing grade. At this point, our expertise begins to plateau because we’re operating from memory vs. curiosity.

Fail to Communicate with Followers

If you’ve ever had an expert talk over your head, you know how hard it is to relate. Or maybe you were the expert who found it difficult to get your point across – perhaps to employees or customers. Authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath address this specific issue in an HBR article on the curse of knowledge. As an expert, you must constantly translate your message so it can be understood by the non-experts.

Fall Behind the Change Curve

I don’t know about you, but if I need emergency surgery, I want to be operated on by an expert with the latest knowledge, equipment and technology. It doesn’t matter to me if my physician was valedictorian of his medical school three decades ago – I want him to be an expert by today’s standards. If it’s been a long time since you’ve done something for the first time – and you haven’t accessed the latest thinking and methods, you may have fallen behind.

There is no substitute for knowledge and know-how. But for it to be truly be the advantage it is, we’ve got to employ it with an open mind instead of a close one. Continuous learning is more difficult than new learning, but the need has never been higher.

If you’re the expert, push yourself not just to learn new things, but also to study the latest innovations in your areas of expertise. Push yourself to see if a new approach can net better results. And if you’re an organizational leader, look for ways to capture the observations of new leaders while constantly exposing experienced leaders to new situations.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

“Think Grey”

Steven Sample shared this concept in his landmark book The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership as an encouragement to resist making a critical thinking judgment sooner than necessary. It’s easy to draw conclusions quickly. We don’t like a certain business approach. We should allocate more money for a particular project. We may be right, but it’s often extremely valuable to postpone the judgment until later when possible – especially when we are in a new environment.

Be a “Kamerman” Teammate

I’ve never forgotten what FBI Executive Assistant Director Janet Kamerman told our consulting team several years ago. She said the FBI needed leaders who were “good at making other people look good.” If that’s good enough for the FBI, it’s good enough for me. I suppose you could call it a “Cliff Paul” teammate as well – being someone who looks to set a teammate up for a slam dunk whenever possible. That’s the kind of teammate I want to be because that’s the kind of teammate I want around me.

Value Personality Differences

I’ve worked with colleagues with near identical personality traits as mine as well as others who were strikingly different. The natural tendency is to assume that my “way” is always best. It’s not. Differences complement – and can add extra spice to relationships. But they also require patience.

Be Known Positively

Did you ever stop to think that people prefer to work with people they like? Guess what? In a large way you are responsible for your public image. The more you need to collaborate with others to get your job done, the more important it is. Don’t be the person who builds a lousy image and then expects others to partner with you.

No Entitlement

I participated in a talent review once where the consensus on one leader was that he had an entitlement complex. He felt he deserved a promotion while management felt he needed more time to prove himself in his current role. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it with the company much longer. The sad thing was that he had the knowledge and skills to succeed. It was his attitude that held back. Make your contribution your #1 concern.

Learner’s Mindset

When was the last time you did something for the first time? As a young professional, everything is new. But as we gain experience, we start to operate from habit rather than creativity. It’s extremely self-limiting. I’m challenging myself to try to learn and grow (not just my skills but also my capacity) as much in the next five years as I have in the past five – but it will require a focused learner’s mindset.

Servant’s Heart

It’s easy to get so busy with our agenda that we forget why we even lead. I’ve had to stop many times to remind myself that I serve at the pleasure of the people writing my paycheck and work for the good of my internal and external customers. If what I produce doesn’t work for them, it shouldn’t work for me either. Leading and serving ought to go hand in hand.

Humble + Hungry

You’ve probably been encouraged to “stay humble and hungry” a time or two. Sometimes it’s hard to balance ambition and contentment, but this theme seems to fit right in the middle of the two. Be humble enough to put others first and hungry enough to put yourself out there.

Grateful Daily

Perspective is a powerful tool. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize how good I have it – a sentiment that is often lost in the long meetings and complicated project planning. That’s why the discipline of gratitude is so important. I’m truly blessed – and so are you.

Blessings in the new year!

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

I read a book a couple years ago that took decision-making to a whole new level. It was Decisive by Chip & Dan Heath. I don’t think I’ve heard as comprehensive (or creative) a thinking process as it relates to decision-making. And the best part is that is applies to nearly all circumstances, from business (should we sue a bigger company? offer a discount on our products?) to personal (should I break up with my significant other? let my adult child move back home? buy a new TV?).

Here is a brief summary of the WRAP decision-making process the Heath brothers use:

W – Widen Your Options

The first decision-making mistake we often make is assuming a situation is binary – we chose between only two options. In reality, there are so many more possibilities.

Expand your options – Find several alternatives, not just one. Instead of deciding whether to stay or quit a job, come up with several options for making the best of a job without leaving.

Consider the opportunity cost – Determine what you give up by making a certain decision. What else could you have instead? For instance, by choosing to attend a private school, you may be choosing to not attend a public school AND buy a new car. Which would you rather have?

Benchmark – Instead of rushing out to make a decision, find someone who has already solved your problem. What did he or she do and how did it turn out? What do the experts say to do in this situation?

R – Reality-Test Your Assumptions

Once we’re leaning a certain way on a decision (and especially after we’ve made the decision), we’re often imprisoned by our confirmation bias. We want our decision to be “right,” so we look for confirmation and discount or ignore evidence to the contrary.

Consider the opposite – Look for reasons why the decision you want to make could very well be the wrong one. In other words, look at it from the standpoint of someone who disagrees completely and be willing to acknowledge the weaknesses from that side. (Maybe this could come in handy in politics).

Zoom in/out – Zoom in by asking for the real-world experience of others in the exact situation as you. (What did your friend think of the restaurant you are considering visiting?). Then zoom out by looking at the macro data (What is the overall Yelp rating for the restaurant?). Why guess when you can know?

“Ooch” – According to the Heaths, to “ooch” means to experiment on a small scale. Instead of investing tremendous effort and resources toward a decision, look for ways to test a decision before actually deciding. Hire several firms to do one project before awarding one with the big contract. Sell your pies at the farmer’s market before starting a baking business.

A – Attain Distance Before Deciding

Deciding and executing don’t need to happen at the same time. Better to take a “cooling off” period.

Overcome short-term emotion – Give yourself some time before acting on a decision. Use 10/10/10 – ask yourself how you will feel about the decision in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years. Ask what decision your successor would make in this situation (especially for high profile ones) – or how you would advise your best friend.

Honor your core priorities – Remind yourself what is most important to you. Then consider the options in light of those priorities.

P – Prepare to Be Wrong

Being “right” about a bad decision just isn’t worth it. Politics aside, remember Sarah Palin’s bridge to nowhere? At least she had a jumping off point. Opt for a correctable slip up over a colossal failure.

Bookend the future – Anticipate the future given your desired course of action. If everything goes right, what will you do? If everything goes wrong, how will you respond? Ask yourself what could go wrong and improve on it.

Set a tripwire – Decide at what point you will change course. What would make a job so bad you would finally have to leave it? How much will you invest toward a failing business (or a hobby) before you throw in the towel?

We’ll never outlive the necessity to make decisions. As stressful as it can be, it is immensely rewarding as well. Decision-making is a function of leadership. The more willing we are to make decisions (and live with the consequences), the more opportunities we’ll get.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.

And unfortunately, in some cases, I agree with them. I’ve seen plenty of leaders abused to the point where others take note and stay put. Usually it’s the result of some type of organizational dysfunction which may be easy to see buy difficult to change. Other times the job really is that difficult.

So as you move up in an organization, does leadership get easier or harder? I have good news and bad news. The answer is “yes.” Here’s why.

Leadership Gets Harder

The higher you go in an organization, the more you become responsible for. That means there is more to stress over, it’s true. You’ll have more decisions to make, more uncertainty to negotiate and more change to manage. You inherit problems you probably don’t want to deal with. You have less time to gain familiarity with your environment. Your decisions have deeper and wider implications. Your mistakes have sharper consequences. And you will likely report to someone (or a group of people) who has less time for (and possibly less patience with) you.

Leadership Gets Easier

Now here’s the good news. The higher you go in an organization, the more support you get. You generally have more budget to work with. You have more people to work with you and for you to solve your problems. (If you have good leaders on your team, they’ll work to prevent problems from even showing up on your radar). You have more access to information. You also have more opportunity to shape both culture and outcomes. In short, you have more control.

So, is it worth it?

Steven Sample, former president of University of Southern California and author of The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership said there is a big difference between “being leader” and “doing leader.” In other words, it’s nice to have the title and the perks, but if you aren’t willing to do the work, you’ll never be the right fit.

So how do you decide if a leadership opportunity is right for you?

It’s a complicated question that has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, for sure. But bear these two questions in mind:

• How much change will you be able to influence?
• How will you be able to better serve the people around you?

I firmly believe that each person has the ability to make a leadership contribution regardless of their organizational hierarchy. But it’s also true that some positions afford more opportunities for influence than others. Most leadership opportunities don’t come along every day.

As far as serving people goes, Jack Welch once said that 70% of leadership is developing people – and that if you don’t like people, leadership stinks! There’s no substitute for one-on-one influence. The higher you go, the greater influence you will have over the lives of others – either for better or worse.

Choose wisely.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

So what happens when adversity strikes? How can we climb our way our of it? This isn’t an exhaustive list, but here are some thinking patterns that have helped me maintain a sense of sanity and clarity over the years.

No Second Guessing

Many times adverse situations are the result of our own making. We create our own chaos. That’s why it’s takes so much courage to make tough decisions when the outcomes aren’t clear.

Whether your adversity is self-inflicted or not, don’t second-guess. It’s a waste of time and energy. The past is gone. In economic terms, it’s “sunk cost.” Instead, re-assess based on where you are now. What went wrong? What could you do differently next time? What makes the most sense based on where we are today, not where we were in the past? Use the past as a teacher and then move on.

Profit From Your Losses

When I learned that Dale Carnegie had written a bestselling book called How to Quit Worrying and Start Living, I was a bit incredulous. Do people really worry that much, I thought. When I began reading, I realized I was one of the target audience. Carnegie shared that anyone can profit from their gains. It takes intelligence, creativity and a winning spirit to profit from your losses.

There are countless personal and business stories where the mistake led to the breakthrough. Your adversity may not be Hollywood material in the making, but most reversals rarely are. Start where you are. Find a way to turn your minuses into pluses, your lemons into lemonade.

Live to Play Another Down

That’s a sports reference. If you want a first class lesson in dealing with adversity, just take your queue from the world of athletics. I could never be a sports coach. If there is anyone who isn’t allowed to say “well guys, looks like this one is over,” it’s them! Sometimes it “works” and the team comes from behind to win. Other times even the most devastating losses provide an opportunity to grow into a stronger team. No single play or game or season gets the last word. The present is only temporary. It’s all about where you go from there.

When I was a college student, my classmates and I would occasionally receive a bad test on an exam followed by an overwhelming, end of the world feeling that our lives and careers were now in total jeopardy. It took some perspective to admit that job recruiters weren’t likely to inquire about each individual test score for all our classes.

Put your adversity in perspective. A speed bump is just that: a bump. Not a mountain.

Plan for Next Time

The worst part of adversity is getting fooled twice. Don’t let this happen to you! Don’t second-guess, but re-assess. Remember?

A construction company I work with nearly went under during the housing collapse in the United States a few years ago. They made it, but just barely. Now the market is coming back and it would be easy just to get back to business. But nobody wants to go through all that misery again. So the leaders made a plan to diversify the main product line. It takes extra work now, but if the market collapses again, the company will stand strong.

How do you handle adversity? What’s your plan?

If your adversity involves a traumatic experience, visit this article entitled: Resilience and the Pan Am Flight 73 Hijacking.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

Back in the 1970s, Gordon Training International developed a learning model called “The Four Stages of Competence,” which has also been linked to Abraham Maslow’s work. There’s something helpful about breaking an idea or a challenge down into smaller parts, and competence is no different. If we can understand which stage both we and our followers are in, we’ll be much more useful. Here are the Four Stages of Competence:

Unconscious Incompetence

In this stage, an individual simply doesn’t know what they don’t know. Picture a new college graduate, an entry-level employee, a newly promoted supervisor (sometimes) or a clueless new business owner. In these situations, individuals can often be high on drive but low on actual ability. In other cases, individuals may be unmotivated as well as clueless as to their level of competence.

The bottom line is that people in this stage cannot progress to the next without an awareness of their own deficit. Whether they experience a reality check on the job, receive input from a supervisor or come to a realization on their own (or any number of interventions), the recognition itself is the key to future growth.

Conscious Incompetence

In this stage, an individual recognizes that a gap in their level of competence exists. They realize they lack the skills, knowledge or ability they need to be successful. For many people, engagement and motivation can drop significantly when this happens. Think about it: how would you respond if you thought you were good at something only to find you weren’t? To bridge the gap, they can benefit immensely from resources, coaching and the elbow room to learn from their mistakes. The time it takes to develop to competence depends on many of these factors.

Conscious Competence

In this stage, an individual is aware that they have acquired knowledge, skills or ability. However, they must still concentrate focused effort to be successful. Tasks may need to be broken down into steps in order to attain mastery, which generally requires practice. Still, this is one of the most rewarding stages since it represents significant growth.

Unconscious Competence

In this stage, an individual has demonstrated a skill to the extent that it has become “second nature.” It takes far less effort and focus than it once did. They can multitask and not see a drop in performance. Provided the individual learned correctly, they can teach others to acquire the same skill. Although unconscious competence is the goal, one of the dangers is that people in this group can be tempted to forget the fundamentals.

We invariably occupy each of these stages across all the skills we possess (or need to possess). The trick is to discover which we belong to. As a leader, it’s even more important to be able to assess the competence of those who follow us so that we can know how to best develop them.

Can you think of a time you crossed all four stages?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

Last week’s leadership profile introduced America’s “Master of Motivation,” the late Zig Ziglar. Ziglar realized early on that if you are going to talk about motivation, it’s crucial to know what’s important in the first place. After mulling it over in excruciating detail, Ziglar finally identified eight things that all people want, no matter who they are. They are shared them in his book Success for Dummies and I’d like to share them here with you as well.

What People Want

People want to be happy.

People want to be healthy.

People want to be reasonably prosperous.

People want to be secure.

People want to have friends.

People want to have peace of mind.

People want to have good family relationships.

People want to have hope that the future will be even better.

What You Can Do About It

You’ll notice that none of these things can be purchased with money (like Mastercard used to say). So what can you and I do about it?

As I shared last week, Ziglar’s life motto was this: “You can have anything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” This means there are two specific things we can begin to do immediately.

Identify the people you want to serve. They could be your customers, employees, stakeholders, constituents, members, audience, spouse, children, etc. We rub shoulders with so many different individuals and groups of people each day. We may not be able to give everyone everything they want, but we can do something for someone. It all begins by identifying who we can serve.

Identify one of the eight things on the list you can make easier to attain. This is where leadership comes into play. There is always something you can do to give others what they want, whether it is through a product you sell, policy you set, legislation you pass, publication you write, words you speak, time you spend, or many other ways. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be an enormous stretch. You are probably doing something already that can be used to benefit others.

An Unexpected Benefit

So what does success look like for you? So often we measure success based on how much money we make, how much stuff we’ve accumulated, what title we have, or how many people we’re in charge of. Taking a fresh look at the things everyone wants – what’s intrinsically important – can help us gauge not only how well we’re serving others, but whether or not we are headed in the right direction ourselves. Instead of aiming for the things money can buy, aim for the priceless.

If you’d like to check out more resources available from Zig Ziglar, visit my previous post here.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.