First Right Answers, Best Right Answers?
by Collin Moore
Divergence, iteration, ambiguity. These are some of the buzzwords in the ESP program at Farmer. Something else you’ll hear in the entrepreneurship halls: Push past your first right answer. The first right answer is the safe answer, they say, a simple stepping stone to the next great prototype, unexpected insight, or surprising innovation. Any student or professor in ESP will probably tell you that going with your first right idea is the worst idea. But what if the first right idea turns out to be the best right idea?
Entrepreneurship at Miami University is designed to introduce students to the creative process, using different tools and mindsets to create unique and intriguing ideas. The first right idea is your stepping stone to greater, developed ideas; what really defines a good idea, though, is the insights you make about your audience. The ideal situation allows you time for multiple iterations and improvements upon ideas, but not every situation is ideal. Our first right ideas offer us the familiarity to compare and ponder common, everyday experiences and expectations. Think of picture walls, the free advertising tool driving tourists to cities and restaurants. How can businesses get free and effective advertising online? By creating an engaging picture wall. A successful picture wall isn’t just an image, it’s something that embodies joy and excitement. Because of this, picture walls can be anything from a brick wall with wings to a sculpture that people pose in to complete. This demonstrates one aspect of creativity: variety, or flexibility. Picture walls also find success in the details present in the picture, focusing on the elaboration of the concept. The thought of picture walls is not unique, but presenting one through a different medium—lights instead of paint on brick—or using unexpected images and features—butterfly wings with sketches of local cityscapes—illustrate the flexibility and elaboration inherent to picture walls. Picture walls may not be necessarily creative in terms of originality, but they allow creativity to flow through flexibility and elaboration; likewise, the first right idea may not be unique, but its ability to be developed through detail and form create a space for creativity. By looking beyond its originality, the first right answer has the potential to be the best answer to the problems at hand.
Intrigue, uniqueness, surprise. None of these really describe the concept of first right ideas. However, when you take it a step further and analyze more than the originality of an idea, you start to see the potential of first right ideas. So, the next time you need an idea, diverge, ideate, iterate to your heart’s content. But if you hit creator’s block, think back to that first right idea. It might just be the best idea you could’ve asked for.
Collin Moore, Finance and Accounting major, Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation minor
Hometown: Piqua, Ohio
Fun fact: Watched 10 seasons of Adventure Time in two weeks
