How to Find the Next Big (Adjacent) Idea
10 practices for idea building, plus liquid networks, serendipity and the research on creative power of walks
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Sometimes we drug ourselves with dreams of new ideas. The head will save us. The brain alone will set us free. But there are no new ideas waiting in the wings to save us... There are only old and forgotten ones, new combinations, extrapolations and recognitions from within ourselves--along with the renewed courage to try them out. Audre Lorde
A flash of insight. A stroke of genius. An epiphany. Eureka. A lightbulb moment.
We talk about great ideas as if they are a spark, as if they just “come” to us.
They don’t.
Great ideas most frequently come in slow waves that pool at the feet of a collective, who, when conditions are right, bounce ideas off one another and cause the tide to rise.
Great ideas are less about flashes of light, and more about flows of water.
And great ideas don’t just rise in crowds, they need them. Innovation in any field is not defined by newness nor does it happen in a minute. Great ideas emerge slowly, through connecting existing things and people.
The Big Idea(s)
There is a concept called the adjacent possible made more well known by Steven Johnson, in his book Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation.1
Johnson suggests that adjacent possible ideas emerge when small tweaks are made to the existing, based on what is available, and they grow from there. When exploring the adjacent possible, there are some guideposts suggested by Johnson’s research:
Don’t
dive into an industry to look forward, backwards or inwards.
go BIG or set a BIG vision or a BIG goal, which usually involves BIG EGO.
seek quiet, isolated spaces.
go at it alone.
Do
cross disciplines to look outwards to the left and right.
pursue ATOMIC opportunities next to you.2
build space for liquid networks to form and serendipity to happen.
engage in intermittent collaboration.3
The adjacent possible is that first little side step. It’s not a big leap, where everything changes at once and altogether. It’s pulling things that exist together.
And how do we make things happen?
“The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations.” Steven Johnson
Making Big Ideas Usable
Co-creating research studies, products, community and a school over the last two decades has fortified my belief in the above recommendations and the below practices. The bottom line: in any new endeavor - research, business development, entrepreneurship, the creative process is NOT linear.
Success favors connected minds and people. Based on a review of good ideas brought to life as innovations, there are ten specific places to look where you'll find the seeds of a great idea. Hint: they won’t be found where you are right now.
Top Ten Activities to Lead You to the Next Big (Adjacent) Idea
1. Go for walks (as much as possible!);
🚶♀️To read: Why Walking Builds Creativity (source: The New Yorker magazine)
2. Listen and read what is to the right and left;
🎧 To listen: Hallelujah: (Slow Learning) (source: Revisionist History pod with Malcolm Gladwell)
3. Cultivate slow hunches;
🧠 To inspire: The Power of Slow Hunches (source: The Next Big Idea Club interview with Steven Johnson)
4. Make learning public;
🦋 To do: (blog? tweet? Join me on Threads? Instagram? Signal?)
5. Embrace serendipity;
📕 To build the mindset: The Serendipity Mindset (source: a book by Christian Busch) A blog post on this book here.
6. Make generative mistakes;
✅ To consider: We Need to use the F-Word in Schools (source: School of Thought)4
7. Pursue multiple hobbies;
🎨 To motivate: The Power of Dabbling: How Hobbies Make Us More Creative (source: The Next Big Idea Club Podcast)
8. Frequent/create shared workspaces, and liquid networks;
💭 To frame: Spaces for Creativity (source: Social Science Research Network)
9. Gain energy when others build on ideas;
🏗️To build: How to Start a Movement (Source: Derek Sivers’ TedTalk)
10. Borrow, recycle, re-invent, and/or re-fabricate.
♻️ To inspire recycling: Going Old School to Create New Schools (Source: School of Thought)
An Adjacent Possible Activity
Here are questions and corresponding principles adapted from Brand Genetics. Look for these in a Fall School of Thought gathering on Innovation for subscribers.♥️
What new possibilities are there today, that didn’t exist a year ago? (principle of adjacent possibilities)
What hunches have you had for some time about what to do)? (principle of slow hunches – the more others share them or build on them, the better they may be)
What do fresh eyes think we should do? (principle of liquid networks)5
What’s worked that’s surprised us? (principle of serendipity – build on what surprises, chance happenings)
What’s the biggest learning from our biggest error? (principle of error)
What other purpose can our product or service be used for? (principle of exaptation – bird feather evolved for warmth, and then through ‘exaptation’ they became wings)
What big success can we build on? (platform principle)
Follow for more SOT Visuals in Your Feeds
🐦 Twitter : Where you find the latest visuals.
🧵 Threads: Visual prompts daily.
📷 Instagram : All visuals in one place.
🔗 LinkedIn: Visuals + Deep-Dives.
Available soon for subscribers: a Mini Ebook, The Visual Factor, which will walk through the WHY of visualizing with workshops to follow on HOW in the fall.
Though it was made more well known by Steven Johnson, the term was first suggested by biologist Stuart Kauffman in 2002.
The concept of atomic opportunities is suggested as a play on James Clear’s Atomic Habits. An atomic habit is a regular practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do, but is also the source of incredible power that can compound growth.
While atomic habits are the way to refresh your life, atomic changes are suggested as a way we can refresh the world.
In a Harvard University study (2018), researchers gave three separate groups the same problem to solve. One where each member worked on it in isolation. One where the group’s members collaborated constantly. And a third group that only collaborated intermittently. Here’s what they found:
The “isolated group” came up with a few fantastic solutions, but their overall quality as a group was low (due to a high variation between good and bad solutions).
The “always on” group had less variation in solutions (due to groupthink from working together). And while the solutions they did come up with were overall better quality than the isolated group, they didn’t have any of the “fantastic” ones people working on their own came up with.
The “intermittent collaboration” group had the best of both worlds. They used their isolated time to come up with the most creative ideas, and then came together as a group to explain, learn from each other, and narrow in on the highest-quality ones to present.
The truth behind many of the greatest scientific discoveries is that scientists spend a great deal of time being wrong before they are right. And not just wrong, but messy. A large number of world changing findings can be attributed to contaminated lab environments.
For example, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin when the mold accidentally infiltrated a culture of Staphylococcus he left by an open window in his lab.
A note I love about Johnson’s message is that whether we’re talking about physics or finance, innovation is as much about collaboration and connection as it is about competition. It’s not one or other other. We need each other to move forward. ⚡️