Idea Sculptures
Life's Best Ideas Come from Collision, Not Isolation
This past weekend, my family took a quick getaway to Surfside Beach, on the southwest side of Galveston Island. Most people assume that a February beach trip would be a bust, but Texas weather is as unpredictable as my kids bedtime routine. It ended up being in the 70s for most of the weekend—perfect for a short escape.
But the best part of the trip wasn’t the beach. It was meeting my new niece, Lane Grace. My sister and her husband welcomed Laine at the beginning of the year, and my daughter, Brynn, was obsessed—she wanted to hold her every second of the trip.
The Rock Tumbler Effect
When I was cleaning out my truck from the weekend, I found several rocks my Son had found on the beach as souvenirs. I found myself thinking about a story Steve Jobs told many times—his rock tumbler metaphor.
As a kid, Jobs once heard loud noises coming from his neighbor’s garage. Curious, he went over to investigate. His neighbor had a small spinning can, and when Jobs asked about it, the neighbor told him to go find some rocks. Jobs came back with a handful of regular, rough-looking stones. His neighbor tossed them into the tumbler, added a bag of minerals, and told him to come back the next day.
When Jobs returned, the rocks had transformed. They were polished, smooth, and nothing like the raw, jagged stones he had collected the day before.
You can watch the video of Jobs telling the story here.
He used this metaphor for teamwork and ideas. When we come up with ideas on our own, they’re like rough rocks—shaped only by our perspective, experiences, and biases. These are called frames—conceptual structures that influence what we notice, how we interpret things, and ultimately, how we act. Frames can be intentional or unintentional, but they define how we think.
But here’s the thing: ideas don’t get better in isolation. Just like those rocks in the tumbler, ideas need friction—colliding with other perspectives, shaped by different frames—to become something truly great. Your brilliant notion about disrupting the coffee industry with blockchain? It's probably as rough as those pre-tumbled rocks.
Unfinished Sculptures
If you’ve ever been to Italy and seen Michelangelo’s David, you’ve probably also seen his unfinished sculptures. They’re haunting—figures trapped in stone, partially carved, frozen in time.
Ideas that aren’t shared are like those unfinished sculptures. They might have promise. They might even be impressive. But they’re incomplete.
A great idea is like a massive block of marble. It takes time, chiseling, and collaboration to shape it into something people will travel the world to see.
1 + 1 = 3
Tim Cook put it best:
“Always subscribe to the view that one plus one is three. That if you share what you’re thinking with someone else, the idea will get bigger. If you share with two other people, it will get even bigger. You can do something alone and do it fast, or you can do something with other people and go really far with it.”
Ideas need a journey. If you believe your idea is so good that it must be kept secret, you’re ensuring that it never reaches its full potential. It will never be refined, tested, or strengthened by different perspectives.
To work effectively with others, you need to communicate your frame clearly—so others can challenge it with theirs.
How to Share Ideas Effectively
Want to make sure your ideas don’t stay trapped in the marble? Here are a few principles to follow:
Keep it simple. If your idea is too complex to explain clearly, you’ll struggle to reinforce the frame you’re trying to create. Simplify first, refine later. In other words, simplify until your grandmother gets it.
Connect the idea to purpose. Why does this idea matter? What value does it bring to others? If people can’t see the relevance, they won’t engage.
Show your work. Be explicit about how your idea ties into your expertise, experience, or the interests of those you’re collaborating with. If you can’t show you put in the work to understand the problem, how can you convince others you are ready to put in the work to execute the idea?
Surface alternatives. The best ideas can stand up to competing viewpoints. Position your insights in a way that invites others to bring their perspectives into the mix.
The true magic of idea generation lies not in isolation, but in the friction of diverse perspectives colliding and shaping one another. Time to let your ideas get knocked around a bit and put them in the tumbler. Embrace the process. Let the friction refine them into something extraordinary. Don't let your ideas remain trapped in the marble. Let them shine.
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