{"id":700,"date":"2016-02-15T14:33:29","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T22:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/?p=700"},"modified":"2016-02-15T14:33:29","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T22:33:29","slug":"the-one-new-thing-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/02\/the-one-new-thing-rule.html","title":{"rendered":"The “One New Thing” Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FlowChartCloud\"<\/a>Adam Grant, in his new book,\u00a0Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World<\/a>\u00a0writes about the necessity of anchoring new ideas in familiar things.<\/p>\n

To generate creative ideas, it\u2019s important to start from an unusual place. But to explain those ideas, they have to be connected to something familiar. That\u2019s why so many startups are introducing themselves as the ‘Uber for X’.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s why when writers pitch a movie to a producer or studio they often cast it as “this movie-that-you-know meets this other-movie-you-know.”\u00a0It’s a new movie, so you have to convince a potential audience why they should pay attention. A star you already know. A comic book franchise with familiar characters. A new take on a well-worn story or genre. New is good, but it has to be anchored with something familiar.<\/p>\n

Over years of\u00a0pitching ideas, I’ve developed a version of this that I call the One New Thing Rule<\/strong>.\u00a0People\u00a0love the idea of something new, they really do. Two something news they really can’t do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A new thing can be\u00a0seductive, but to consider it requires an\u00a0adjustment in what you already know. People will\u00a0make the leap if, as Grant observes<\/a>, you give them something familiar to contextualize it with. But then stop. Trying to get someone to make a second leap is difficult. In fact, it usually untethers the first new idea from its moorings and you’ve lost the case you might already have won.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adam Grant, in his new book,\u00a0Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World\u00a0writes about the necessity of anchoring new ideas in familiar things. To generate creative ideas, it\u2019s important to start from an unusual place. But to explain those ideas, they have to be connected to something familiar. That\u2019s why so many startups are introducing themselves as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ideas","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/FlowChartCloud.png?fit=376%2C317&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-bi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2007\/02\/me_in_the_la_times.html","url_meta":{"origin":700,"position":0},"title":"Me in the LA Times","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A few weeks ago I went to a moviecast of the Metropolitan Opera's \"First Emperor\" at the local movie theatre here in Seattle. With performing arts organizations everywhere trying to find new ways of appealing to audiences more familiar with video screens than stages, it struck me that the Met\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":352,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/05\/movie_critics-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":700,"position":1},"title":"Us Against “Them” (That Anti-Expert Thing Again)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"May 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In the Weekly Standard, John Podhoretz has noted the carnage of movie critics at newspapers. He isn't weeping. Movie criticism has been a feature of American newspapers for a\u00a0century, and sadly, one can count the standout critics throughout that\u00a0time on maybe two hands. 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