Idea Practitioners Get Results

As important as the continual search for new concepts is to a company, the task of helping those ideas gain traction is just as critical. Everyone who has seen a corporate change initiative wither on the vine knows that there is often a yawning gap between brilliant new ideas and concrete business results.

Bridging that gap are people sometimes referred to as idea practitioners (IPs). Such managers make it their job to identify business ideas that can make a difference for their companies and make them happen. IPs are not ordained to this work, and they rarely have a formal mandate for what they do.

What idea practitioners share is more than the ability to get excited by an idea's potential. As they scan the horizon for new ideas to bring back to their companies, their finely honed sensibility for what it will take for an idea to overcome internal resistance serves as a filter. Only those ideas that pass this workability test get brought forward. At that point, the IP's skills as cheerleader, viral marketer, ambassador, battlefield tactician, and savvy political insider come to the fore.

The true bench mark of success—for an IP, the real reward lies in seeing that the idea made a difference in the life of the organization. Do you know any IP's? Are you one yourself?