Idea Spotlight: The Fortune Cookie

A pleasant surprise is waiting for you.

One entertaining aspect of eating Chinese food is opening your fortune cookie at the end of the meal. Seemingly forever a staple of American Chinese cuisine, the modern fortune cookie became popular after World War II and is now served in Chinese restaurants around the world while countlessly referenced in American pop culture. At one point, fortune cookies were being imported into China as “genuine American fortune cookies.”

A beautiful, smart, and loving person will be coming into your life.

Although these words may read as ancient Confucianism, they are hardly traditionally Chinese. The origin of the fortune cookie and its entire history have been hotly debated. There is no specific date, person, or location tied to the lore of the fortune cookie. Makoto Hagiwara, designer of the famous Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park and a Japanese immigrant in San Francisco, was reported to be the first person to serve the cookies that held thank you notes from a bakery in the 1890s or early 1900s. However, David Jung, the founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, claims he invented the cookie in 1918. Jung’s version contained short bible verses and he would hand them out to people walking by his shop. And a third version claims that early Chinese restaurants are in fact the true originators.

Invest in others and true fortune will follow.

The point is, does it matter? Yes and no. Though credit due should be credit paid, more than one person can have the same idea and it isn’t necessarily plagiarism. New ideas are always made from older ones. With all the debate on who first created the fortune cookie, it was Shuck Yee from Oakland who created the fortune cookie machine in 1973 that allowed for mass production and hence, acted as the biggest catalyst for making the fortune cookie synonymous with American Chinese food.

A good time to finish up old tasks.

One of the biggest pitfalls when it comes to brainstorming is a team’s inaction after doing one. A team may experience an “ideal” brainstorm where everyone is participating, energy is high, and the ideas are inspiring. Everyone leaves the session with positivity and smiles. But then a week passes. And another week comes and goes. And then after about a month or so, someone may ask, “Hey, whatever happened to those awesome campaign ideas from our brainstorm a month ago?” Everyone shrugs and last year’s campaign becomes recycled with a few “upgrades.”

Most ideas from a brainstorm are left out to dry because a follow-up is rarely addressed. And an email with a recap of the ideas generated is not enough. Teams need a process in place where ideas are constantly tweaked, tested, and implemented. Otherwise, most of your amazing ideas will never see the light of day.

This is why we implement 3 critical phases to every brainstorm at Flight Club - Research/Prep, Brainstorm, and the 3Rs (Re-visit, Refine, and Re-engage). During the 3Rs, our team revisits every single sticky note, image, comment, and discussion notes. While we recap and remember the ideas from the brainstorm, we begin to refine them with questions and debates. And finally, we re-engage the entire team with actionable next steps and a likely follow-up brainstorm. All three of these 3R steps are wrapped into a nice report that aligns and engages the entire team.

If you want your team to think outside the box and innovate memorable and impactful ideas, brainstorms are not your solution. Instead, you team needs to embrace a brainstorming culture where your team is constantly iterating and tweaking.

Do this and fortune awaits for you.