I just returned from delivering two keynote speeches at an international conference pertaining to innovations in customer service.

The event was exhilarating, but there was an extra taste of frosting that I found in the form of a poster hung on an easel. It read:

"Orville Wright Didn't Have a Pilot's License."

Of course, he didn't. He, along with his brother, Wilbur, built one of the first airplanes. Licenses didn't exist for flying machines, and they don't, for genuine innovators.

Can you imagine someone saying several years ago, "I'd like to take out a permit to invent the radio" or TV, or the Internet? (Al Gore didn't have one!)

But in our credentialed-to-the-teeth world, filled with schools that issue certificates, diplomas, and degrees, and populated with governments that seek to regulate nearly everything, most of us TACITLY BELIEVE we need permission to invent the NEW.

I see this belief in countless chat groups to which writers subscribe. Most of the discussion questions are DEFICIENCY based.

"What do I have to do before I can write and publish what I want?"

The genuine answer is "nothing," especially if you're trying to do what no one has done before. In fact, seeking permission and endorsements and pats on the back is an exhausting and generally painful process.

It's like looking for applause before you have performed. "Would you clap if I did this?"

I don't know. Maybe. Do it first.

At the conference this statement was made: "The best way to have a great idea is to have LOTS of ideas."

Ideas wither in judgmental environments, in the choking smog of criticism. This is why brainstorming sessions outlaw negative feedback, telling and being told: "You can't do that!" or "That won't fly!"

It's impossible to get pre-approval for what doesn't exist. Practical inventors that they were, I'm sure the Wrights knew this in their bones.