How do you develop, select and launch your best ideas?

Ideation calls for an interplay between promptings and intelligence, between imagination and analysis. The golden egg is an idea that was not there yet, and that is so convincing that it is actually realized. How do you find that golden egg? In fact, how do you develop a golden egg yourself? Ideation is the ability to put a good idea into the world. It is half talent, half method; it is the engine behind our progress. Brainstorms are too noncommittal – they usually deliver a flipchart full of ‘maybe’. And research & development is indeed purposeful and sensible, but also predictable and sometimes even boring. How does ideation work?