The Realistic Visionary

I like to think of myself as visionary yet realistic. Being in the ad agency business I’ve attended my fair share of meetings where ideas were discussed, all while everyone in the room knew the client didn’t have the means to do it. While I value the power of blue sky brainstorming, I’m not sure of the value of coming away with a laundry list of ideas that can never be implemented.

That having been said, never underestimate the power of using those ideas as a springboard to a great strategy or creative concept. This seems to be the part that we frequently never get to. At some point we need to look at the ideas and apply the filter of “now, what can we do with these ideas to solve X, knowing our constraints.” We need to consider the tactical issues. Do we have the budget? Can we do it ourselves? Can we hire it out? All while not letting the complexity of execution bog us down.

It’s a challenge, but blue sky ideas tempered with a dose of reality can net far more concrete results. It’s interesting how often the best ideas in an ideation session come about when everyone is sick of brainstorming the topic.