Powerful ideas are born fragile, easy to crush, hard to protect

Have you ever wondered why people who used to be full of energy and bring a lot of ideas to the table, all of a sudden stop presenting their ideas?

When discussing ideas in a group, it’s very easy to dismiss ideas that don’t fit your world-view. But having a knee-jerk reaction to anything is just “reacting” without really understanding what the other person has to present.

People build ideas based on their accumulated experiences. This means that the ideas emerge quickly from those experiences and arrive unpolished.

When someone’s ideas are consistently dismissed over time, they stop contributing and that leads to a feeling of being unheard. This leads to social isolation.

None of this means you have to agree to everything, but before you do, think about it and be curious if you don’t fully understand it. Ask questions.

It’s easy to dismiss an idea, but much harder to protect it. Next time you see people presenting any idea that doesn’t fit your mental model, take a step back, give it a few minutes and see if you can encourage them. If the idea does not have any value, it will eventually die its natural death; but it doesn’t have to—not so early in its life.