Session 1: Where do good ideas come from?

Introduction

Every great business starts with a good idea that provides the impetus for you to make your enterprise happen. The question is where do these ideas come from?

The answer to this is that they come from thinking – from you thinking of something that other people really want or need. Perhaps though the question should be more explicit and ask where do good ideas come from and how do you know they are good? An even harder question following this is how do I know if it is a good idea for me?

It is the power of your idea that will ultimately attract interest from stakeholders, customers and end users.

This first session will consider the source of ideas before helping you to explore how to assess your ideas. In the sessions that follow, you will then receive practical guidance on how to progress them to a plan of action.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• understand the different ways that ideas arise and how to evaluate and develop them
• reflect on your own experiences and the examples and approaches provided to generate ideas
• recognise that ideas evolve and can lead to more ideas about different parts of a business.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.