I recently tweeted that there is a danger in turning an idea into a movement. This was in response to a friend of mine who had tweeted a famous line from the song,  Alice's Restaurant, "three people makes an organization." And if we can get 50 people, it's a movement. Photo by ninahale.

No, I haven't backtracked on the concept of A Bigger Voice, which is about developing a better way to turn an idea into a sustainable movement. But what I've been thinking about lately is that movements can be created based on faulty ideas, ego-driven leaders, and misinformed assumptions. It's useful to look for these red flags up front.

A few tips:

• Is the idea from the wisdom entrepreneur borne of experience–an insight to a problem that he/she has felt the pain of? Or is it political correctness that drives the cause?

• Is the idea a new twist to an age-old problem? Or is it rhetoric that can be identified as motherhood and apple pie?

• Is the wisdom entrepreneur humble enough to listen to other points of view, or is he/she driven by being right?

  

• Is the wisdom entrepreneur well-read and educated on the cause at hand to have validated the soundness of her idea? Or has emotion taken over any chance of looking at pertinent facts and figures?

I say this at a time when groups are rising up in the US in response to public policy, Congressional and presidential actions, and an upheaval of the status quo in society and business. Not all movements deserve to get the attention they do. Not all ideas are good ones. We need to be thoughtful enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. 

Photo by joguldi