Ways to distinguish yourself #143 - Surround yourself with thought amplifiers

By Rajesh Setty on Thu 22 Jun 2006, 2:25 PM - 4 Comments

Let us take a hypothetical scenario:

You have $10,000 and when you visit a neighbourhood bank, they promise that they will double the money in six months. You smell a scam. But they say that they have done it before to others and they can do it again. You still can’t believe it but in the back of your mind - you are just thinking that there may be a faint chance that this might be true and if it is, you don’t want to miss the chance. While you are debating internally, the person on the other side says - “By the way, you don’t have to deposit your money. All we need is that we have a long-term relationship, that’s it.” You can’t believe what you are hearing. You walk out of the branch and go to another bank and lo and behold, the story repeats. They make a promise to double your money and you don’t have to deposit your money first…

This looks unbelievable when it comes to money. You can’t get a deal better than that. It is too good to be true. However, there is a scenario where this theory will work - it is when you share your thoughts with the right set of people. Who are these set of people? These are thought amplifiers. You tell them an idea that is at 5 on a scale of 10 and these people can transform the idea to be at 9 on a scale of 10. All this in a matter of minutes. Sometimes you take an idea to them and when they transform the idea, you feel that it was not even close to your idea. They seem like catalysts but they are much more than that. In simple terms, they touch an idea and they make it more valuable than before. The best part - they make it look so easy and make you feel “Why didn’t I think of that?” Now, imagine sharing your idea with ten such thought amplifiers. You will open up a whole new set of possibilities.

Silicon Valley is one such place where there is a huge concentration of “Thought Amplifiers.” That makes it easy for young entrepreneurs to start their businesses. That is from my experience in the last ten years of living here. I am sure that wherever you are, you will find “thought amplifiers” around you. The point is - do you have the time to invest in building the relationships with these thought amplifiers to make it worth their while to lend their power to you?

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Anonymous on June 22nd, 2006

Excellent post. It may be easier for someone else to amplify your own ideas since they view it from a different perspective.

Anonymous on June 23rd, 2006

Yes,
I have an experience of sharing some thoughts to these type of people of my company. And the best part of it is they have implemented some of the thoughts of mine.
If you say how I got benefitted I really dont have any clue.
Praveen Pandey

Anonymous on June 23rd, 2006

Praveen,
My $.02.
If you could NOT have executed on those ideas anyways, don’t bother who implemented them. But what happened to you is something from which you should learn and THINK how you will approach any of what you do in the future.
Cheers,
Raj