I read children’s books every day - admittedly, not always for pleasure, but definitely by choice. My wife and I have a bunch of kids, and I cherish the quiet moments before bedtime when I get to read one of the many Llama Llama books on our shelf or hear my daughter giggle when we read Too Purply. My 7 year old doesn’t necessarily like for me to read to him anymore. He likes to read his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books to me (which are actually really good). My 8-month-old twins could care less what I read to them because they just want to eat the pages, but my go-to these days for them is Jimmy Fallon’s book he wrote to try to get his daughter to say Daddy, appropriately named DaDa.
My 3 year old is a different story. She LOVES books; so much that we have to cap how many books she gets at bedtime or she would stay up all night. She recently grabbed a book off her bookshelf that I had not read to her yet, but the title itself caught my attention - What Do You Do With An Idea by Kobi Yamada. It’s about a kid who had an idea.
The idea in the book is portrayed as a golden egg with legs and wearing a crown. He didn’t know where it came from, why it came to him, or what to do with it. At first, he tried to walk away from it, but it kept following him. He started to embrace it, but he still kept it hidden and didn’t talk about it. As time went on, the idea grew larger and he became friends with the idea because it made him happy. With apprehension, he started to show people his idea. They laughed at his idea, said it was no good, and that he was wasting his time with this weird idea. At first, the boy believed them and thought seriously about abandoning his idea, but quickly realized they didn’t know his idea like he did. It didn’t matter to him that his idea was different, weird, or crazy. He then spent even more time with his idea and before long; he couldn’t imagine life without his beloved idea. Then, all of a sudden, his idea (remember, it’s an egg) changed right before his eyes, spread its wings and took flight. The story concludes with the boy stating that his idea “wasn’t just a part of me anymore, it was now a part of everything. I then realized what you do with an idea…you change the world.”
What a powerful lesson for entrepreneurs who may be wrangling with an idea of their own. I’m blessed in my role at VentureSouth because I get to work with many outstanding people who are best friends with little golden eggs that have the potential to change the world.
Tweet your golden egg to @Charliebanks11.
Charlie, Managing Director - VentureSouth