Why they don't like your idea

Image by Nemo's great uncle

I used to think it was because they thought I was a hack. Or that they resented how clever I was. Or that they took my idea as a challenge that they had to beat.

It never occurred to me that the knee jerk rejection of an idea by other creatives was anything other than nefarious.

Yes, that’s right, nefarious.

Then, I had an ah-hah moment about… the ah-hah moment.

The reason creative people don’t like other people's ideas isn’t anything ill-willed at all. It’s because they – we – use that feeling we get when we generate something wonderful, as a signal that something wonderful has indeed been generated. If we do not generate the idea, we do not get to experience the eureka, and therefore we do not trust the idea.

It isn’t a matter of ‘not invented here’. It’s simply ‘not experienced here’. Think of that next time you're dealing with some seemingly recalcitrant creatives. Pity them that gut instinct is the best judge yet invented.