There was a meeting in my city this week with a lot of very influential, intelligent, affluent and passionate people. They were working to build support for a building project in my city. A funny thing happened during the meeting. The guy who had the fewest political connections and makes the least amount of money shared some phenomenal ideas. The group jumped on them. They embraced the ideas throughout the meeting and those few comments will likely become rallying points for that group’s future planning. Linchpins (as Seth Godin describes in his book) are indispensable and it was fun to see Linchpin behavior happen yesterday. Linchpins don’t get their title because they paid for the position; they get the title because they are indispensable. (Side note: If you have to explain why you’re indispensable, you’re not indispensable.)
The ideas that this guy came up with weren’t rocket science but they were ones that will help change opinions, which will lead to votes, which will lead to change. If they spoke in order of income he would never had a chance to speak. Employees are forever following protocol, tradition or a pecking order when they share ideas. That’s dumb. Speak your ideas as they come to you (if they’re good ones) and they’ll either turn into action or they’ll fade away.
Yesterday I saw a guy share pivotal ideas. It was the best stuff in a room full of really powerful people. The new economy of power has more to do with understanding human nature and using that knowledge to influence decisions than it does with buying the right stocks. Speak up, the world needs your ideas.
