Appreciating value

Both generating a new idea and appreciating its value are difficult, but essential for entrepreneurship. Generating new ideas can require the deliberate tools of lateral thinking and once the idea is created, appreciation of its potential value is crucial.

If you cannot find value in the new idea then it is not going to be pursued or developed. This is where 'value sensitivity' comes in.

It could be useful to do a 'value scan', where we scan in various directions to try to find the different values involved.

Attention is pulled by something that attracts our attention. A proper scan is undertaken by the thinker and not determined by what is being assessed. Just getting a rough idea of value is not enough – we have to scan all the values carefully and deliberately.

Consider an apparently negative situation, then try to find value in it. Maybe the value is only for some people and might not be present in certain circumstances. Making the effort to find value is the important thing in entrepreneurship.

Look for value first before looking for the difficulties, otherwise you will not be sufficiently motivated to find values. If you find strong values first, the difficulties will be seen as obstacles to be overcome.

You do not have to use an idea just because you find value in it. The value might not be sufficient and the negative points might outweigh it.

However, it is worth putting in the effort to find as much value as you can. Once you get into this habit, it gets much easier to assess new ideas.

Finding value and rejecting an idea is very different from rejecting it because of its negative aspects without looking for the positives.

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