It’s 4th and 10, Do You Go for It?
What does it take to be an original?
According to Adam Grant, author of the book, Originals, "It is when people have moderate expertise in a particular domain that they're the most open to radically creative ideas." Take for example, Head Football Coach, Kevin Kelley of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas (see video below). He didn't set out to be a head football coach, his education was in accounting, however his college education did not go to waste, in fact it is most likely the primary reason for his success.
Coach Kelley is known as the "Coach Who Never Punts." Sounds crazy until you see the results. Kelley has coached multiple teams to state championships because he was intelligent enough to ask the question, "Why?" and bold enough to disrupt the established patterns of expectation. At 3:38 in this video, Kelley talks about the importance of reading. He read books by Malcolm Gladwell and research from a Harvard professor. Not the typical reading material of a football coach, but it turned out to give him a clear competitive edge.
This video not only tells an interesting story of success but gives us insight to what it takes to perform differently. What the video does not discuss, however, is how Coach Kelley sold the idea to his team.
Questioning conventional wisdom is not easy, in fact the fear of being shot down or ridiculed keeps many from doing so. Selling an original idea is equally challenging. Grant suggests that you try tapping out a tune in your head to your friends to see if they can guess the tune. You'll find that the odds of success are marginal. Why? Because communicating ideas (or melodies) is more challenging than most of us realize. Herein lies the problem of an original idea... Great ideas are nothing if they aren't communicated effectively. So how do you do this?
The mistake often made is that we under communicate the idea and underestimate the amount of exposure that an audience needs to understand and accept it. Grant also explains the following...
"In one three-month period, employees might be exposed to 2.3 million words and numbers. On average during that period, the vision for change was expressed in only 13,400 words and numbers: a 30-minute speech, an hour-long meeting, a briefing, and a memo. Since 99 percent of the communication that employees encounter during those three months does not concern the vision, how can they be expected to understand it, let alone internalize it?"
This is something that you must consider the next time you have the courage to present an original idea. Growing Leaders founder, Tim Elmore, provides four key points on how to communicate your vision in his article, "Leader tip #8: How to Communicate your Vision
What problem are you trying to overcome? What does the world look like when you are successful? Begin with the big idea. Lay out your vision in a concise and clear fashion. Ask the question: Wouldn’t it be great if we could do this for our school? Our community? Our world? In this first portion, the communicator shares the desirable idea with the audience. This is our hope.
But our world is not this way because of our present opposition or circumstances. This is a statement explaining why this wonderful vision hasn’t come to pass. At this point the communicator shares the obstacles or struggles preventing this vision from becoming reality. This is our dilemma.
In order to improve, these changes or events must take place. This is what will transform us from our present negative reality to our future desired reality. At this point, the communicator talks about the necessary price to pay to transform the situation. This is our essential change.
Here is how we do it. I will now provide the action steps we must take if we plan to experience a better tomorrow in this area. It’s enlistment time. At this point, the communicator gets practical or even logistical with the listeners about what steps they must take to participate. This is our action.
The Coach Who Never Punts Grantland Features from William Watkins on Vimeo.
