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I’m reading Surrounded by Geniuses, by Alan S. Gregerman. Gregerman’s main argument is that everyone in your organization has the potential to come up with brilliant ideas—it’s just that most organizations, and the conversations within them, aren’t structured in the right way to let those ideas out.

He cites one example from the rental car company Enterprise that I found particularly inspiring: “[Enterprise’s] biggest innovation was probably an amazingly simple and compelling idea suggested by an everyday genius. In 1974, a branch manager in Orlando began to offer customers free rides to the rental office. This service became the ‘We’ll Pick You Up’ theme that is now an Enterprise tradition.”

I love that this idea originated in a branch office and was picked up by the national chain. It actually reminds me of an interview I conducted recently with some staff at the Illinois Park and Recreation Association, about an online tool they developed called Locate a Park that has been quite successful for IPRA members; the idea may be picked up at a national level by the National Recreation and Park Association. For those of you with chapters—are you doing all you can to magnify the power of innovative ideas being generated at the chapter level? For those of you working at a state or local association, do you have ideas that you could share with your sister associations in other states/localities or with a national affiliate?