Ideas thrive in certain conditions. Connections are key.
People will often describe breakthrough ideas as “Eureka” moments, coming from the Greek word for “I have found.” New ideas and sudden discoveries may seem like they just pop up, by they rarely do so all by themselves.
In “Where Good Ideas Come From,” Steven Johnson explores the patterns that lead to the birth of good ideas, and what we can do to improve the likelihood of creative problem-solving in our environment.
Johnson maintains there are seven patterns of innovation that appear over and over again in culture and in nature. These patterns are based on community and connections and prove that innovation has its best chance of happening when people and ideas are connected, not protected or isolated.
Here are the seven patterns he outlines:
The Adjacent Possible
It’s by learning from other people’s ideas, or previous ideas of our own, that we come up with new ways of seeing the world. It’s a constant connection of innovation. The reason ideas that are disconnected fail, is because there’s no connection with the present or application in reality. These ideas are frequently called “ahead of their time”.
The key is not to isolate your idea. Instead, try to connect it to as many people, places, and other ideas as possible.
Liquid Networks
Ideas are not single elements. They are more like networks. For ideas to happen, you have to place the elements where more connections can occur in the right way.
The best networks provide a random environment that encourages constant “collisions” between all of its elements. This is why “liquid” networks are the best. They provide more stability than gas, where there’s not enough time for meaningful connections to happen, and less rigidity than solids, where there’s not enough randomness
The Slow Hunch
It takes time for ideas (hunches) to connect and evolve into something valuable. Patience and contemplation are key aspects of innovation.
Many slow hunches never turn into something useful because our day-to-day matters usually get in the way. We forget them before we give them a chance to make connections and grow. This is why a commonplace notebook is such a valuable tool. Write everything down, and let it bloom.
Serendipity
Ideas sometimes arise from happy accidents, hunches connect in an unexpected way. The secret to help serendipity occur is to build networks where elements have a chance to persist, disperse and re-connect.
Building an environment where brainstorming is constantly running in the back is the ideal way to go get serendipitous.
Error
Good ideas are more likely to emerge in environments that contain a certain amount of noise and error. Noise and error leads to unpredictability, which in turn leads to innovation.
The reason failure is not a bad thing is not because mistakes are good, but because they are critical steps that one must go through in order to create something valuable. Failing fast and moving on to the next thing is a much better philosophy.
Exaptation
Exaptation is all about exploring more uses of already existing ideas. Exaptation is simply applying existing or adapted ideas and solutions to new problems.
Platforms
New ideas appear where platforms are open. For example, companies like Google and 3M are great examples of cultures designed to have a consistent stream of ideas from the most unexpected sources. They have established platforms for this kind of interaction.
Platforms generate ideas not only by fomenting specialization and diversity, but also by making it easy to “recycle” and reuse existing resources. Platforms encourage team work.
Don’t try to forage for ideas by yourself in the forest of innovation. Solo idea explorers aren’t nearly as good as teams of explorers.
Connections, collisions and open platforms are the best environments to drive new ideas. Johnson sums up things nicely at the end of his Ted talk: Chance favors the connected mind.
Have a great week.
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