What makes a venture capitalist successful is that smart and creative people bring them new ideas.

A lot of new ideas.

A venture capitalist calls this process “deal flow.”

Deal flow describes the rate at which new business proposals drop into their inbox or the number of meetups they have.

Deal flow isn't a rigid measurement.

Deal flow is about access to new ideas.

But the better the deal flow, the better the venture capitalist.

What’s true for the venture capitalist is true for a senior executive with global ambition.

The more ideas that land in your inbox or the number of meetups you have, means more and better insights.

You need a process called “idea flow.”

Here are several tactics to help increase idea flow:

• Choose to be creative - creative people have one thing in common, they decide to be creative. 

• Expose yourself to new ideas and experiences - take an artabout, where you wander around a museum. Artabout, a word I created inspired by the Aussie word walkabout, is an informal stroll among art. The purpose of an artabout is a deliberate act where your brain can experience awe.  

Richard Sima in the Washington Post reports: By becoming less attuned to ourselves and more attuned to the rest of the world, awe helps us spark new ideas. Emerging research shows that experiencing awe may make us more curious and creative.

“It helps make you feel like there’s more going on in the world than just you. And it gives you that sense of being a part of something much bigger than yourself.” -- Paul Piff, an associate professor of psychological science at the University of California at Irvine

• Employ the shower effect - according to a 2022 study, one of the best tactics for sparking new ideas is to employ ʺmindlessʺ tasks that are engaging but not boring —  like walking, showering, or knitting, as opposed to watching ambient videos or doom-scrolling on social media.

• Get into the field - embrace your inner anthropologist and see how people engage with products, share ideas, and spark aha moments. 

• Start with a prompt - empty whitespace can be intimidating. Starting with a prompt, an image, or a letter as the foundation for idea dumps. There is a neurological reason Twitter prompts you with “what’s happening?” as a means to get you tweeting.

• Avoid benchmarking - Too often, executives will look to competitors for ideas. This benchmarking is about the past rather than what is possible. Benchmarking is an idea that has already been achieved and is not about embracing a new idea.

• Use a pencil and draw - Asking someone to describe Spring would be impossible. But asking someone to draw Spring, well, that can be visualized. Some ideas simply appear better on paper and cannot be spoken or described.

• Ask why questions - When presented with an idea or an answer, respond with “why?” Ideally, you can ask “why” five times. This tactic is called the 5 Whys. Watch this video to see it in practice here.

• Reframe the question - “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.” This quote is the first thing Errol Gerson says to his students at the start of each semester. Gerson has taught entrepreneurship, leadership, and business management at Art Center in Pasadena, CA, for nearly half a century. Gerson's challenge from the start is to get his students to look at the world around them differently. A tactic he calls "reframing" or merely seeing things differently. Sometimes a new idea is just waiting to pop out with a different or reframed perspective.

If you need help building your idea flow, Caracal is here to help.

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

ITK Daily is geopolitical business intelligence for senior executives with global ambition.

ITK Daily curates news @ the intersection of globalization, disruption, politics, culture, + sport and provides actionable insights and sharp commentary.