New is Easy. Right is Hard.

I am a fan of the next thing.  I am always on the lookout for the new idea that opens up opportunities (to connect more people, to identify more leaders, etc.).  I am on the lookout for what’s next.  You should be too!

And…at the same time…I am a realist.  I know for sure that my “ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results I am currently experiencing.”  I consider the “results I am currently experiencing” to be the facts in evidence.  Results are not a fluke.  Results are based on the design.  I look at outcomes through that lens.  And you should too.  See also, Five GroupLife Dots You May Not Be Connecting.

This week I read an interesting article about the three most important players at Apple since the death of Steve Jobs.  I was caught by a line from Craig Federighi, Apple’s VP of software engineering, given in response to a comment by Jonathan Ive, Apple Senior VP of Design.  Describing the way innovation happens at Apple, Ive said, “We go back again and again until something is just right.”  See also, Apple’s Most Important Introductions (HT Lifehacker).

Federighi’s line?  “New is easy.  Right is hard.”

I like that line.  It describes very well the way I feel about the search for what is next.  I never want to do the next thing just to do a new thing.  I want to keep working at an idea until it is right.  Not in the search for problem-free.  In the search for an idea that extends and expands capabilities.  See also, The Pursuit of Problem-Free.

What do you think?  Have a question? Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.