When you think of famous visionary leaders, you often think that they have something, know something, or do something that the rest of us don’t have, don’t know, or can’t do. The truth is, they don’t. The only thing they have is an intuitive understanding of how to open their minds and consider new ideas. 

When you’re thinking about new ideas, you’re often thinking of the divergent phase of the brainstorming process—where you generate many new ideas.  

However, the convergent (or deciding) phase is equally important—to ensure that those new, fresh, and interesting ideas conceived during the divergent phase actually get considered. Due to some basic neuroscience principles, it’s all too easy to instantly reject any truly new ideas. The very human tendency is to select the ideas that make you feel the least uncomfortable. In other words, even if you managed to generate some really unique and innovative ideas, you’re actually fairly unlikely to decide to use them unless you do some overt things to help overcome instinctive fears of anything new. 

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