Posted in blog, Quotes by Stephen Shapiro on Posted on Jby Stephen Shapiro. Let’s remember George Carlin by surfacing all of our buried ideas – the good, the bad, and the sucky. One of the questions I like to ask a group is, “What is the funniest, craziest, or worst idea? ” After they create a list, I ask them, “How can you make that into a great idea?” George Denis Patrick Carlin ( June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic.

Quite often, the worst idea can be the seed for a great idea.Everyone has them. They just get filtered along with all of the other ideas. When you allow the bad ideas to flow, you also allow the (submerged) good ideas to emerge.

I ask teams (during brainstorming, in particular) to strive for a “ high suckiness factor.” Give me all of your bad ideas not just your good ones. How can you stop people from filtering their ideas? We don’t want to look silly, so we filter everything, including the good ideas. As adults, we worry about our bad ideas emerging.

And guess what, most of those ideas do indeed stink.Īnd this is what stifles innovation. Trouble is, most of them suck.”Īlthough this is a simple saying, there is some real depth to it. Although this quote is less raunchy than most, it’s still not quite “G” rated… Today’s quote is from the great comedian, George Carlin, who passed away Sunday. The Kennedy Center posthumously awarded this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to George Carlin.

George carlin quotes