[tyleo]

I really like the message, “don’t be afraid to be wrong”. I like to tell people I’ve worked with I have a “First Idiot Principle”. Which is, “Don’t ever be afraid to be the first idiot in the room.”

There are many situations in life where someone puts out a call for ideas. Maybe a person asks for opinions in a meeting for example. Applying the First Idiot Principle you should respond to these even if you have an idiot idea. Usually one of a three things happens:

1. No one has a better idea and it isn’t an idiot idea after all.

2. Folks silently agree with you but were afraid to share because they thought they might look like the idiot. Now that the idea is public they back you up.

3. It is an idiot idea! And someone else realizes they have a better idea and they feel compelled to share when previously they may have thought they were the one with the idiot idea.

No matter what happens, you get an outcome that’s better than not sharing the idea at all.

[steveBK123]

“First Idiot Principle” - great terminology and thought process.

It's an expression of creative humility that opens a conversation rather than the "first principles" or "strong ideas weakly held" guys that basically shut down the conversation.