Even as he built the DVD business that toppled Blockbuster, Hastings was guided by the big idea that mailing people DVDs was a mere way station on the road to streaming video.

FORBES: How Netflix Innovates and Wins

It would have been embarrassing for Barclays if it were lending less to businesses than it promised the government it would do under Project Merlin, because that agreement between the big banks and the Treasury was its idea (or, more precisely, that of its previous chief executive, John Varley).

BBC: Barclays backs chancellor's spending cuts

More than 200 years ago, when the planet was inhabited by less than one-sixth the population it supports today, the pessimistic preacher posited the idea that Earth's big problem was too many people, that overpopulation made prosperity impossible.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The idea was so big that it's overflown into Mountain Lion: More than most operating-system updates, this one riffs on the same concepts as its immediate predecessor.

CNN: Review: Mac's Lion adventure continues

As far as I could tell, all of them bought into the idea that Enterprise 2.0 was a big part of the solution to a longstanding and serious challenge for their organizations.

FORBES: Are CIOs Finally Embracing Social Media?

The big idea that bubbled up through the chain of command was a long-haul counter-insurgency campaign.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

If the plan sounds familiar, it's because that was President Jimmy Carter's big idea too -- and a lot of good it did us.

CNN: McCain wants to lift ban on offshore drilling

When Waldmann started touting this idea in 1993 as a strategy for treating various autoimmune disorders, the idea was so fringy that it took him two years to get his first big study published.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Their idea was that people want to watch their local team more than they want to watch one of the big national games, but that you need a national brand to sell advertising.

ECONOMIST: Sports networks