What counts as a “stupid idea”? The "out there" one that makes everyone look at you funny, or the safe, respectable one that slowly kills your business?

We took a break from rebrand logistics and wandered up and down the road talking about how people and teams judge ideas.

Teams often close the filter way too tightly for fear of having no filter at all. We talk about the hidden risks of focus and brainstorms, why coherence matters more than consensus, and how our Pitch Provocations method helps teams safely test the uncomfortable stuff.

You can now reach us at tentacles@crownandreach.com. Thanks for walking with us x

In this episode:

• Why “there are no bad ideas!” is a well-meaning lie, and what to do instead
• The coherence trick, and using it to find your boundaries
• How to spot hidden stupidity in apparently safe ideas
• What most orgs get wrong about experimentation
• A practical method for killing pet ideas without hurting feelings

References

• JP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis, home of the article that sparked the episode https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/
• Andrew Anderson's “You make more money when you’re wrong” idea https://cxl.com/blog/5-tactics-to-changing-how-your-organization-thinks-about-optimization/
• Pitch Provocations – Crown & Reach's lightweight testing method. Also explored way back in episode 07 https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9326

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We were going to record a proper episode when we discovered that Coriss'a Otter.ai app had already done the job, while in Corissa’s pocket, mid toddler-wrangling.

This micro-episode is a dramatic reading of the resulting auto-transcript. We think it's a deeply serious and often moving window into the age of AI.

No notes.

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why is it so hard to start something — whether it’s a blog post, a new product, or a strategic shift?

In this episode of Tentacles, we read out a note from Henrik Karlsson about the fear and freedom and unfolding in first drafts.

We see how this links with journaling, testing app loops, multiverse mapping, design sprints, and what poultry farming can teach us about intuition.

Learning in public, making peace with mess, and pulling the gold back out of garbage.

• Why your first draft should go straight in the bin — and with joy
• How product teams get trapped in “perfect plans” and miss the real work
• What chick sexing can teach us about tacit knowledge and intuition
• How to test your new business idea with words and a Sharpie
• The subtle trap of fear disguised as “planning”
• Why your best intro might be hidden halfway down the page
• A reframe of user testing that makes it feel less like judgment and more like treasure hunting

• Henrik Karlsson https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz, especially the essay Looking for Alice https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/looking-for-alice
• Sasha Chapin essay https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/if-you-have-writers-block-maybe-you
• Multiverse Mapping, a visual collaborative process for mapping and stress-testing strategic intent https://multiversemapping.com/
• Design Sprints, originally from Google Ventures, covered in the book Sprint by Jake Knapp
• 750 Words 750words.com, a site for daily stream-of-consciousness journaling
• Design Testing Methods like transcribing live interviews, paper prototyping with Sharpies, copy-first testing
• “Write drunk, edit sober” often misattributed to Hemingway
• Chick sexing, the practice of identifying baby chicken gender, often cited in intuition training
• Hard Test, Easy Life https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/stop-polishing-turd-products-with
• Pivot Triggers, Crown & Reach’s approach to structured learning from unexpected results
• Innovation Tactics Pip Deck https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics

Find out more about our work at crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.