Scott Belsky has impeccable credentials. He completed his undergraduate studies at Cornell, his graduate studies at Harvard Business School, worked at Goldman Sachs and then founded Behance, "a company that develops products and services to organize the creative world". “Making Ideas Happen” represents the culmination and assimilation of his knowledge gained from hundreds of interviews with the CEOs, Vice Presidents, Chief Designers, and Directors of departments of companies such as Apple, Google, and Zappos. From these interviews, as well as his own experiences and other information obtained from conferences and readings, Belsky extracts the most salient aspects of why these companies have become giants in their respective fields, and how they have been so successful in "making ideas happen".
Edison famously said that genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration. Ideas for new businesses, solutions to the world's problems and artistic breakthroughs are common but great execution is rare. Belsky finds that, no matter how unique or radically different ideas may be, the individuals and teams who carry those ideas to fruition share a number of common traits, such as engaging peers and leveraging communal forces.
Belsky spent six years studying the habits of especially productive creative people and teams,-the ones who make their ideas happen time and time again. In an increasingly flexible and entrepreneurial environment, creative minds have the opportunity, and arguably the responsibility, to solve and change industries. However they can only do that if they overcome the obstacles. While many of us obsess about discovering great new ideas, Belsky shows why it's better to develop the capacity to make ideas happen, a capacity that endures over time. The idea is not the thing, the execution is the point. Ideas flow freely, while doing something about them takes a lot of hard work and focus.
The book is very well structured, action oriented and full of tips and best practiced based on tried and true cases. Belsky argues that you need three things to make any idea happen. He says, "you just need to modify your organizational habits, engage a broader community, and develop your leadership capability."
On the point of organisation he suggests a system that involves three main categories, Action Steps, References, and Backburners. Through this system you can store ideas, move them forward and manage the process of working on them.
All good ideas need a team to move them to completion and that collaboration is critical. Teams make more progress than individuals. The greatest teams achieve their success with communication, cooperation, and most important of all, collaboration.
Another point that Belsky addresses is the dynamic of the dreamer and the doer. If you are the dreamer, it is in your best interest to find a doer to partner with so you can take your idea to market. A dreamer is creative and challenges the status quo. A doer may not see the big picture as well, but they can see all the little details needed to get the job done.
Finally, to bring your ideas to fruition, you need to step up to the plate and lead. "While the tendency to generate ideas is rather natural, the path to making them happen is tumultuous. This book is intended to outfit you with the methods and insights that build your capacity to defy the odds and make your ideas happen." It requires leadership that combines tenacity with patience, vision with a compulsion to make that vision a reality and personal integrity. In the last part of the book, Belsky gives a lot of advice on how to lead.
A chapter is devoted to leading creative teams. Methods for managing these teams include notions of sharing ownership on your ideas. Ownership is important as team members who feel they have a stake in the idea will put more effort into its development. Getting people excited about your idea is the first phase of sharing ownership. The second and much more challenging part is empowering team members to push the idea forward rather than micromanaging them every step of the way.
“Making Ideas Happen” is an excellent resource for those of us who have no shortage of ideas but often have a hard time seeing those ideas through to completion. It offers specific, actionable information on how to manage yourself and your team to achieve measurable results and create successful projects. Ultimately, Belsky insists, creative success is a matter of rethinking methods and increasing focus, while emphasizing and rewarding old-fashioned passion and perspiration.
