This Week’s Jump-Start
Years ago, a young mother about to go out with her husband prepared to feed their baby before they left. The husband became impatient as she started her daily routine of mashing vegetables through a strainer. Tired of him standing over her with the car keys in one hand and the other hand on the door knob, she turned the task over to him. Within a few minutes, the strainer, peas, carrots, and bowl ended up in his lap. As he changed clothes, he reasoned that there must be a better way to prepare baby food and that there must be a lot of frustrated parents who didn’t enjoy the monotony of straining fruit and vegetables three times a day. Soon, they began discussing the idea of designing machinery to strain the food in a factory and sell it already prepared.
Fortunately, the young father and his dad owned a small canning plant, but it was difficult to sell the older man on the concept. One mistake that harmed a child would destroy everything it had taken them a lifetime to build.
And what about the expense of marketing surveys, developing and financing new machinery, packaging, getting stores to accept the products, and getting parents to buy something totally new at a price that would be both affordable and profitable? You’ve been through this in your own organization or family when someone comes up with an idea that colors outside the lines! I see you’re nodding affirmatively.
The risk was enormous, but in the end, they went forward with their idea because it filled a need they understood firsthand. They had the skills and experience. And the market was so vast that the positive benefits far outweighed the negative factors. One year after Dan Gerber dumped the strainer of cooked vegetables into his lap, the Gerber Products Company introduced its first five baby foods to the market. The point of the story is that, so often, an idea becomes a goal when we realize it meets a need in our own lives and the lives of others. Our motivation to achieve this goal is dependent upon how strong our need is and whether or not we have the determination, optimism and toughness to follow through our ideas to fruition.
—Denis Waitley
From Denis Waitley’s newsletter a powerful message about how we can turn ideas into something great.
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