Making Ideas Happen
Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality
By: Scott Belsky
Published: April 15, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 256pp
ISBN-13: 9781591843122
ISBN-10: 159184312X
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin Group (USA)
"Ideas don't happen because they are great - or by accident. The misconception that great ideas inevitably lead to success has prevailed for too long", writes speaker, entrepreneur, and founder of Behance, Scott Belsky in his insightful and results oriented book Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality. The author demonstrates the critical importance of execution for transforming an idea into a a tangible and marketable product.
Scott Belsky describes a systematic approach to guide an entrepreneur from the idea stage through the entire process of organization, execution, utilizing community resources, and building and leading an effective development team. Scott Belsky examines the underlying reasons as to why many good ideas fail to materialize in products or tangible results, despite the best intentions of the innovator. In many cases, according to the author, the idea person's own creative impulses and passion will work against proper execution. Scott Belsky even takes the unusual approach of pointing out that having too many ideas is less effective than having a few manageable concepts. In that sense, the author recommends that innovators prefer quality over quantity, and well organized execution over disorganization and perfectionism.
Scott Belsky (photo left) has studied effective individuals and teams and describes the traits and characteristics they share in common. This this understanding of creative and productive minds, the author provides a road map to successful execution that makes ideas happen. The process outlined in the book is action based, where projects are managed, broken into achievable sub-goals, and designed for moving the activity forward to a successful conclusion. Scott Belsky shows how to tap into the larger community to refine ideas, acquire feedback, and to build a network that can aid in achieving results. The author also points to the power of building a strong team, to learning and practicing effective leadership, managing the team, and for maintaining personal self discipline.
For me, the power of the book is how Scott Belsky creates a systematic and repeatable process for advancing ideas from the concept stage through to a tangible result. The book is a step by step guide to developing the capacity for both idea generation and for results oriented development. The author touches upon all levels of the process, and emphasizes the essential role of bias toward action, toward community involvement, and for building a strong entrepreneurial team. The highly readable book contains excellent chapter summaries that highlight the critical elements of each chapter, and provide an ongoing checklist for keeping the development process on course. Scott Belsky does a brilliant job of creating and sharing a powerful and reusable process for turning ideas into tangible items, helping innovators to become successful entrepreneurs as well.
I highly recommend the very practical and must read book Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky, to anyone seeking a guide to help them navigate the journey from idea conception to marketable product. The author stresses the importance of developing a systemic approach to creative organization and a productive process. The book even provides counter-intuitive concepts that will boost productivity and strengthen the development team.
Read the brilliant and useful book Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky, and turn those many ideas into productive and profitable businesses. This is a book no innovator, who seeks to become a successful entrepreneur, should be without.
