How to turn paperclips into potent pharmacy ideas

Perhaps you have heard the expression, “Begin with the end in mind.” That is exactly what I am doing today. I am starting with the end. The main point I want to share with you today is how leaders must be open to new ideas and must be willing to try to them.  That is the key takeaway message today.  

How I got to this point may be a bit more interesting….

Typically, when I sit down to write, I select an idea, find some stories or illustrations to reinforce the idea, then look to end the writing with some kind of application. 

Today, I sat down to follow this same pattern and the idea is around the need for leaders not just to collect, but also to act upon ideas. Somewhere along the way, pretty much everything that we build is based upon taking these new ideas and acting upon them. 

For instance, someone invented the wheel. Someone had the idea that if two wheels were connected, we could have a bicycle. The tricycle came from the idea of linking three wheels together. These were all new ideas at one time.

As I was coming back from lunch, I was reminded of the story of the invention of the sandwich. According to legend, the Earl of Sandwich was too engrossed in an activity, so he sent instructions for a piece of meat to be placed between two slices of bread, and the sandwich was born. Today that one idea powers much of the fast-food industry. 

But let’s get even simpler. I will hazard that if you are sitting at your desk reading this article, you won't have to look too far to find a paperclip. This is where I was planning to start today. I was going to start by looking at the simple paperclip. Not knowing the history of the paperclip, I thought perhaps I should do the smallest amount of research.  Things then got (more) interesting as my quick search of the internet revealed several names, places, and dates for the invention of the paperclip. It is nowhere near as clean and simple a story as the invention of the sandwich, that's for sure! I will leave an exploration of the details in your capable hands but let me draw your attention to this:  Somehow, someone got the idea that if you took a piece of wire and bent and twisted it in a particular way, it would be able to hold things together. 

In my life, I have stretched paperclips into all sorts of shape. Usually this is to hang ornaments on my Christmas tree. I have never done the opposite. I have never taken a wire and fashioned it into a paperclip.

The paperclip is an example of an unrejected idea. Whoever first had the idea to bend and twist that piece of wire into the shape of a paperclip and then tested it to see if it worked, then adjusted it to make it work better created something and did not reject it.  That person did not throw out this new idea.

What are the results of that unrejected idea today? There are factories that make paperclips. There are trucks and planes that move millions of paperclips from one place to another. There are people who collect pay cheques based solely on the sales of paperclips. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I trust that it makes the point of the value of acting on a simple idea.

This brings us back to where we started. We must be open to new ideas. We must always be looking for them. Not to simply collect them, though that may very well be necessary for a while. We must act on these new ideas at some point.

In 2005, I received a phone call with an idea. The idea was to get pharmacists trained to provide immunization services. At the time this was an outrageous idea to me. But I did not reject it. I may not have immediately embraced it, but I did not reject it. About a dozen pharmacists trained with me that first year. Fast forward six years and I found myself serving on a team that had trained over 12,000 pharmacists!

The idea was not rejected.

I encourage you to become a collector of ideas, the more the merrier. And don't be careless with your ideas. Ideas need to be cared for. They need to be written down, nurtured and refined. Ultimately, they need to be acted upon. And who knows? One day that one idea might give rise to a fantastic innovation in your business or your care of patients. 

To remind yourself to be a collector of ideas, place a paperclip nearby to remind you often of the value of ideas. Attach a paperclip to a notebook. Add a paperclip to your keyring. Perhaps set the lock screen on your smartphone to a picture of a paperclip. Whatever it is, be sure to pick up ideas wherever you can. And be sure to act on them.

Until next time –

Jesse McCullough, PharmD

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