99 Idea Killers
For decades I have been collecting special printed materials and have a small, fine archive of publications that I particularly like because of their design, content, paper, special materials and folding techniques. Today I compiled some samples for a client and came across a mailing I received in 1990 from Dietmar Henneka, a great photographer, at my then workplace at the company SINAR. He has compiled 99 idea killers – sayings, excuses, justifications, sometimes more sometimes less flimsy, with which creative ideas have been stifled by customers. And that was in 1990…
Today, in the age of AI and pretests, his message seems even more important to me: Sometimes you have to take a risk, even if only your gut tells you that you will succeed. The head is not unimportant, but much that is truly great only came about because one person or a (usually small) circle of people took a risk.
Henneka phrased it this way in the accompanying letter:
«Everything is being defended forward, as in the previous NATO strategy. In plain English, like pathologists – first they'll just chop everything up. There will be nothing left. No risk… just sitting it out is the order of the day… So now we're putting a stop to all destructive types…»
The glue
The writing included 99 idea killers in sticker form. I scanned them because I think we still need guys, companies, and organizations today who take risks. Here come the first 25 of these 99 idea killers. Perhaps one or two of their sayings sound familiar, elicit a «Yes, exactly, I know that feeling» or a smile.
To be continued…
