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Hey there, innovation champions!
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I’m back from Italy. My suitcase is unpacked. My brain is still somewhere between Bologna and a plate of tortellini. Thank you for letting me actually be away. More on the trip soon.
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For now, I want to tell you about a sentence I used to say to myself a lot.
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“This sucks. I’m going to paint over it tomorrow.”
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The Painting I Was Ready to Erase

Back when I was a professional artist and creativity instigator, I had a daily practice. Make something. Post it. Finished or not.
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Some of what I posted, I was proud of. A lot of it, I wasn’t. And some of it, I had already mentally thrown away.
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I told you about one of those back in May: a canvas I planned to paint over, and the stranger who asked to buy it.
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Here’s what I didn’t tell you. It happened more than once.
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Another time, I posted a work in progress I was sure was crap. Then, same thing, a woman messaged me. She wanted to buy it.
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I honestly don’t remember what she said. I just remember the shock. She wants to pay for THAT?
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If She Saw Value, There Was Value

When something happens twice in a row like that, it’s hard to ignore. That’s a lesson that lands.
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This person wasn’t being polite. Nobody hands over money to be polite. If she saw enough value in that piece to pay for it, then there was value there. Even if I couldn’t see it.
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So I tried something. I looked at the painting through her eyes instead of mine.
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To be clear, it wasn’t what I’d set out to make. It wasn’t my ultimate expression. But through her eyes? It was beautiful. And I could finally appreciate that.
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That was the shift. I am not always the best judge of my own output. I can’t be. I have no idea what it’s going to mean to someone else.
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I was reminded of this recently in a conversation with a fellow creative (I’ll be sharing it on the podcast down the road — stay tuned!). The work we write off as terrible is sometimes the work that touches people most. I nodded so hard I nearly pulled something.
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Your Eyes vs. Their Eyes

Here’s why creators are such unreliable judges of our own early work. We’re looking at something completely different from everyone else.
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👁️ Your eyes see the gap between what you imagined and what you made.
👀 Their eyes see only what’s actually there.

👁️ Your eyes measure it against your standards and your taste.
👀 Their eyes measure it against their problem and their need.

👁️ Your eyes ask, “Is this good enough?”
👀 Their eyes ask, “Is this useful to me?”
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You can’t unsee the gap. They never saw it to begin with.
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That’s why the inner critic is so convincing. It’s not lying about the gap. It’s just wrong about whether the gap matters.
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We Need the Crap to Fertilize the Good Stuff

There’s a second lesson hiding in there, and it’s the one I care about most.
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Neither moment would have happened if I’d waited until I liked my work to share it. The only reason anyone saw those paintings was that I had a daily practice. Make it. Show it. Repeat.
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Most of what came out of that practice was not my best work. That’s the point. Early output isn’t a detour on the way to the good stuff. It’s how you get there.
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We need the crap to fertilize the good stuff. You don’t get the garden without it.
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Where Good Ideas Go to Die on Your Team

Now think about your team.
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How many ideas get quietly painted over before anyone else sees them? The half-formed proposal that never makes it into the meeting. The rough prototype that stays on someone’s laptop. The “maybe this is dumb, but…” that never gets said out loud.
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This tends to happen most on teams full of smart, analytical people. They have high standards. They’re very good at seeing the gap. So they judge their own early work before anyone else gets a vote.
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And the person who could have said, “Wait, that’s exactly what I needed”? Never gets the chance.
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As a leader, you can change that. Not by lowering standards. By changing when the judging happens.
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Try This: The Permission Slip Protocol

This is Experiment #13 from Innovation at Work. It takes 8 minutes, works for 2 to 10 people, and runs fine remotely.
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Each person writes themselves a “permission slip” for one specific behavior they want to try but feel unsure about. For example: “Permission to share half-formed ideas in meetings.” Or “Permission to question project assumptions.”
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Then everyone shares their slip with the team, and the team gives explicit, out-loud permission.
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That’s it. Eight minutes.
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It sounds almost too simple. But a spoken “yes, please do that” from colleagues changes what feels safe to show. It moves the judging from inside one person’s head into the room, where other eyes can see what’s actually there.
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And here’s what’s critical: Go first. As the leader, write and share your own slip. (Mine would say: “Permission to post the thing before I like it.”)
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Let It Be Crappy First

I still don’t love every piece I put out into the world. I’ve made peace with that.
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Because my job isn’t to decide what’s valuable to other people. My job is to make the thing, and let them see it.
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Your team’s job is the same. Let it be crappy first. Then let someone else look.
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If you want 51 more experiments like this one, built to fit inside the meetings you already have, grab Innovation at Work.
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Build Your Innovation Muscle!

Want more ready-made experiments to help your team build their innovation muscle? Grab the book!

👉Click here for more info
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👉Click here for a free preview PDF
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👉Click here to buy now on Amazon
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👉Click here for a special Leadership Edition — available only on my website — which includes an exclusive 5-part “Innovation Leader’s Edge” video series. Everything you need to run your first micro-experiment, get leadership buy-in, and build lasting innovation culture.
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Creatively yours,
Melissa

P.S. Three ways to give your team’s practice a real time slot:
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🎯 Find out if calendar space is your bottleneck. Take the free Innovation Bottleneck Finder → CLICK HERE​
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📗 Grab Innovation at Work: The 5-Minute Fix plus 51 more experiments that fit inside meetings you already have → CLICK HERE​
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📞 Book a free 30-minute Innovation Strategy Session, and we’ll find the minutes hiding in your team’s week → CLICK HERE​
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