Take a few minutes out to review this video by Steven Johnson, author of “Where Good Ideas Come From”. He debunks the thought that an idea is a singular thing – and replaces it with the suggestion that an idea is a network.
He looks for the signature behaviours that underpin creative environments and goes on to explain why – if you want to foster innovation – your office should look like a coffee shop.
He rounds the story off with an illuminating explanation of how creative thinking stimulated the invention of the GPS network.
Bob,
I saw that video today also and thought it was excellent. I especially loved his line about chance favoring a connected mind, and planned to use it as a title for an upcoming post, but you got to it first (ah, well, you snooze you lose).
I do feel, however, that his idea only goes halfway, because if you put a bunch of unprepared minds together you’re probably not going to get very many good ideas out of it. The original quote about chance favoring the prepared mind is also a critical aspect of the equation, so I think you also have to give people space to study and reflect.
Jack Malcolm