Power up. How to use ideas to create energy in business.

In business, the creation of energy is a curious thing. Where it comes from, how it’s maintained, and importantly, how it’s channeled to motivate teams, create competitive advantage and build excitement in the world.

Our logic is that energy often stems from the power of ideas. A different way of looking at a challenge that captures someone’s imagination, which then initiates a domino effect of lightbulb moments as more people become captivated. Ideas are the rising tide that lifts all boats. The beacons that attract us and give us something to rally around.

As humans we’re obsessed with ‘the new’. Our average attention span is a mere eight seconds. We bore quickly, gravitating towards shiny objects that catch our eye. You only have to witness someone scrolling on their phone to appreciate how depleted our attention has become.

Fresh ideas are key for catching our attention.

It’s hardly surprising that Meta’s new social network, Threads, managed to attract 100M subscribers in the space of a few days. It’s new. It looks cool. It’s an idea that exudes energy. And it’s not Twitter (or X as Elon now wants us to call it). In sensationalizing it, Meta tapped into a phenomenon that marketing types call ‘social proof’: everybody’s talking about it, everyone’s signing up, and so it must be worth getting on board. It was an energy-generating idea – although given that WSJ is reporting daily users have fallen to 13 million users – a whopping 70% drop from its peak on July 7th (two days after launch), the jury’s still out on whether it’s an idea with lasting energy, or if it’ll fizzle out as quickly as it sparked.

What’s important is that the ideas keep coming. The likes of Meta know that to stand still is to lay down and let the competition ride right over you. Everybody wants to be the market lead, but to be in that position you have to work so much harder to maintain it.

You must be creating the original ideas that the
competition then strives to do better.

We often witness what happens to organizations when they fail to keep up with the demand of new ideas. That Blockbuster didn’t evolve into Netflix is a classic example of this. Blockbuster didn’t just fail to envision the entire concept of streaming, it also passed on acquiring Netflix for a reported $50M back in 2000. It was simply closed off to innovative ideas and the energy they bring.

The buzz around Threads also taps into another Heavenly belief: that energy earns media exposure by capturing the imaginations of journalists. It stands to reason that the more newsworthy an idea, the more likely it is to get the column inches. And get past the gatekeeper of the person who’s writing that column.

In the early days of Heavenly we had a client that wanted to sell holiday homes in the popular destination of Cornwall – second home to the likes of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey, Hollywood actress Kate Winslet and American singer Tori Amos. “We’re going to sell them in Selfridges” was our response to this brief. It was original, exciting and created incredible energy around our team, our clients, our partners at luxury department store Selfridges, as well as the market we were aiming for. An early example of our belief in the energy of original and innovative ideas.

Energy can be generated from a wide range of things. A thought-provoking message; a clever brand name; a lateral partnership; a product pivot; the ‘click’ that accompanies a tighter product-market fit.

Reading this, and other editions of the Heavenly Hymnsheet, might give you an indication of our love of ideas, as well as the natural energy they create. In large part, I think this stems from our team, and the culture we foster to help hatch these ideas. This means keeping an eye on the media, being proactive, sharing an occasional thought and being generous with our time. I truly believe that our clients like working with us because we’re energy-giving people. Purveyors of ideas that unlock opportunities, uplift the spirit and keep things moving forward.

We often draw our inspiration from the world around us. And would encourage you to do the same.

Here’s five simple tips on using ideas to create energy in your organization:

1. Celebrate a sharing culture. Make yours a place where people proactively exchange ideas. This isn’t just about being thoughtful. It’s about striking at flints in the kindling.

2. Always accept and acknowledge. Recognise the thoughtfulness. Even if it’s to say ‘not right’, ‘not now’, ‘not ever’. The chances are that dialogue might help shape something better. Radio silence is a real energy-killer.

3. Be a skimmer-scanner. There’s a world of inspiration out there. Sign up to the media sources that inspire you most and spend a few minutes each day giving them the once-over.

4. Make meta-tags in the mind. Remember who’s interested in what, then join the dots. Note to self: I’m sure AI might be able to do this, but it takes the fun out of it.

5. Be an ideas person. It’s in everyone’s gift to use ideas to generate energy. It just takes application, practice and resilience.

What’s crucial however is to capture those ideas that have an impact in the real world. It’s one thing to churn ideas off the top of our heads, but they must be able to serve a purpose and make it out of the door. If an idea lacks substance beyond just being something fun or creative to think of, then it won’t bring energy that lasts past the hour.

I often think that, whilst Heavenly is a brand consultancy, we’re really in the energy business. We understand how ideas can capture people’s imaginations and create lightbulb moments that can make even the most complex propositions compelling. It’s this pursuit of ideas that energizes us every day. And has done since we set up shop back in 2003.