Daily Inspiration: “Take comfort in the fact that if people laugh at your ideas, it usually means that you are on the right track!”

“Take comfort in the fact that if people laugh at your ideas, it usually means that you are on the right track!” -#Futurist Jim Carroll

Have you noticed that @Tesla is on a tear?

While I never get into stock prices & predictions (for which my youngest son is eternally grateful!), I do find some vindication from the fact that people are buying these cars in quantity & that the radical ‘new’ business model they pursue seems to be working.

So here’s a story: back in 2003 or so, I was at a global meeting of auto executives at Mercedes HQ in Germany. It was a small meeting – 15 or 20 executives. The goal was to outline what the industry might look like in the future.

I was there to provide an external, unbiased viewpoint.

At one moment, I spun a story about how the industry might evolve as the result of changing consumer behaviour, the impact of the Internet & new production concepts.

I said that cars would not be built to inventory – they would be built to demand, based on actual orders. Dealerships would go by the wayside as people bought the car, sight unseen, online. The car would be delivered to you in a box – with a party-in-a-box inside to help you celebrate your success!

I called it the GoogleCar – suggesting that it would be a hi-tech company, not a legacy auto company, that would pursue such a brash and bold future.

They laughed at me!

Whatever.

I took their ridicule and turned it into a story for the stage. Through the next decade I would tell the story of the mythical ‘GoogleCar’ as an example of how big and bold thinking could change the future. At first audiences laughed at the story. But over time, they weren’t laughing at the concept as Tesla emerged & business models were challenged.

Why do people laugh at your ideas?

There could be any number of reasons – entrenched interests, a corporate culture in which mediocrity is rewarded and which original thinking is punished. Maybe they live within a seething pit of skeptics, unable to comprehend how their world is actually changing.

Whatever the case may be, be ready for them!

Take their laughter as a sign that your ideas just might be working.