Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: Ideas

Extraordinary companies surround themselves with more ideas than they can handle. Ordinary companies spend a lot of time pushing ideas away, mainly because ideas require investment.

Ideas can come from anywhere ... any time of the day or night. Back in the late 1970's I was watching the Johnny Carson Show. Johnny was interviewing Bob Hope. He asked, "Bob ... if this was your last day on earth, what would you like to eat for your last meal?" Bob answered by naming his most favorite dishes from one famous restaurant after another.

That interview gave me an idea. I put it in my memory bank. A few years later I was at the Los Angeles Airport waiting for my plan to Santa Barbara, where I lived. The flight was canceled. So, I decided to rent a car and drive the 90 miles and asked if anyone waiting wanted to drive with me. One of my fellow passengers was the Executive Vice President of Triad America, owner of many restaurants across the country.

I told him my idea. Build a restaurant based upon Johnny's question to Bob. If this was your last day on earth, what would like to have for your last meal?

First of all, I went on to say, this is the closest ordinary America will get to a celebrity like Bob Hope. Second, you could have 10 or 12 celebrities' favorite meals on the menu and not have to maintain a lot of different foods in the freezer like most restaurants. The idea became a very successful restaurant by the name of Their Last Supper.

What does my story have to do with direct marketing? Nothing. But it has everything to do with where good, viable ideas can come from. They can come from anywhere ... at any time ... and hit you like the ad where some dumbfounded fellow hits his forehead and says, I could have had a V-8.

Good ideas are not about making sales. Ideas that build extraordinary companies are about helping people get fulfilled ... helping them solve a problem ... answering a painful difficulty or solving a problem. If your ideas do this well, money becomes the by-product.