Covid-19 and the Value of Ideas

I was recently on a call with a client who asked, “In addition to your standard services, what new ideas are you bringing to the table?” The client obviously placed a high value on ideas. Competitive advantages first start as ideas. A single competitive advantage can open doors to a tsunami of additional advantages and economic benefits ( Advantages=A² ). For example, innovators and leaders always see data that laggards can’t. That data can be used to guide new product roadmaps, marketing opportunities, sales, improvements and innovations. The value of new ideas, however, can only be realized if acted upon. I have personal journals full of good ideas with little to no value. I never acted. I can’t tell you how many times I have exclaimed to my wife, “That was MY idea!”, after having read about another company acting upon my latent good ideas. Why hadn’t I acted? Most often it had to do with time and focus. My work at the time was not focused on “acting upon” t