Posted by Christopher Stevenson
Really innovative ideas will make people look at you cockeyed. It's true. Take Andrew Gordon, an entrepreneur who came up with a product called Stabletable--flexible plastic strips that can be used in place of folded 
napkins under short table legs. When he pitched his idea to a panel of venture capitalists on the BBC's Dragon's Den he was practically laughed off the show. Where is he now? Running a company that sells Stabletables around the globe.
The moral? Getting cockeyed looks may mean you're on to something. That's not to say that the development of innovative ideas means you are dissociated with the end user. No, you need to know what the customer/member thinks they want and need. But you may want to ignore the know-it-all, we've-always-done-it-this-way, we've-already-tried-that-and-it-didn't-work insider perspective. If you don't, you'll walk away with your head hung low and creative ideas in check.
Just my two cents.
