Conversations create opportunities

I have the sort of job where the best comes from conversations with people I come across in the day to day muddle of meetings. A lot of the meetings I have with people are very focused and clear. There is a set agenda of items or issues to be discussed.

But sometimes – when I am lucky – there is the chance to meet with someone for an open conversation. One of those conversations that is about getting to know someone, finding out where there are areas of mutual interest. And that is often the space where I find really amazing ideas for new projects emerging.

For a few months now I have been working on the early ideas for a big, big awesome project. It’s something way beyond anything I have done before, and it really does feel like I’m breaking through into what Michael Bungay Stanier would call Great Work (go ahead, google it!)

When we are working on this kind of thing, it will feel like we are out way beyond our comfort zone. I am building something from the ground up, and I have no plan or blue print. People keep asking me what it looks like and I have to keep saying it’s very vague at the moment. Bear with me! Conversations will help to shape it. The tricky thing is opening up a conversation with an unfinished concept to get views, get a reaction and above all help to shape the final project.

That is where these conversations come in especially handy. As well as the “awesome project” I mention above, there are three other ideas that I am building in my head. And… guess what: you can only get so far stuck inside your head. At some point (sooner rather than later) you just have to get out there and talk to people, see what they can add to shape the idea.

At its best, it will be a combining of ideas with the person I am in conversation with. Sometimes a random comment will spark a really exciting idea in my own head. Somehow the key thing is to keep the mind open to approaches, open to different strands of the basic idea until I am ready to leap.

Then jump…

Over the next few weeks I am going to write here about these ideas as they develop. They are:

• Beyond Measurement
• Engagement with science at large scale
• Developing a Faculty
• Diversified Funding Models