One Million Ideas

"The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas." So said Linus Pauling.

"The Toyota organization implements a million ideas a year." This according to author Matthew May. If we follow the logic of Pauling's quote then Toyota would need ten million ideas, or more, to find one million worth implementing.

(May's book, The Elegant Solution, isn't that great, but it has some interesting sound bytes in it.)

How many ideas does Ford implement? Or GM? And now the real question: How many ideas does your organization implement?

Aside from the fact that it's impossible to count, it's very worthwhile to think about it. Because, without question, ideas are the future of your organization.