I've been seeking to understand what led to Albert Einstein's groundbreaking insights in the field of physics. The field had been assumed, only a few years before his arrival, to contain no more discoveries. So how did Einstein break through?

I've been seeking to understand what led to Albert Einstein's groundbreaking insights in the field of physics. The field had been assumed, only a few years before his arrival, to c”…

“Perhaps a firm’s most valuable unrealized asset class is its insight into things they’re ‘really sick of’ as an organization: chances are, if they’re really sick of them, there are other organizations who are sick of them too.”

There’s another important unmonetized asset class, which very few companies sufficiently capitalize upon, and it’s one that’s closely associated with things ‘they’re really sick of’…

One of the highlights of Jerry Seinfeld's fascinating conversation with Tim Ferriss was the simple observation of where great ideas come from. In it, Seinfeld speculates that the source of his comedy is his highly sensitive nature…

“If an idea does not sound absurd, then there’s no hope for it.”—Albert Einstein

I've heard that quote a number of times, and it obviously aligns with ideas I've shared here before. What I thought would be fun is to share a couple of noteworthy examples I've come across in my own research recently…

Yesterday I mentioned the power of experimentation to drive ideation. One important note is, experimentation should not be only forward-facing. To say it differently, a deliberate practice of reflection will amplify the learnings we glean from experiments, and the impact that experimentation has on our exploratory trajectory…

Jerry Seinfeld's fascinating conversation with Tim Ferriss sent me down a rabbit trail of fresh research and exploration. Of course comedians deal in ideas. Of course! But to think about their process as an "idea generating process" that I might glean insights from had just not occurred to me as clearly until now…

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona is one of the coolest places I've ever visited. I was stunned to learn that Pablo Picasso created over 20,000 pieces of art in his career…

I was struck by a revealing criticism in Henri Poincaré’s otherwise glowing recommendation of Albert Einstein for an academic position in Zurich. It spoke to me of how subtly a conventional paradigm can sneak into our thinking about exploration…

One of the quirks of the creative process is that it's accelerated by "premature sharing.

We often see this in design workshops, especially among working professionals. We come to a "share out," where we are going to review folks' work, and ask for a show of hands: "Who feels ready to share with the group?" Almost always, not a single hand in the house gets raised…

I may end up doing a short series on the fantastic "A Technique for Producing Ideas" which is, page-for-page, the single greatest guide for the practice of generating ideas that I have found. In it, James Webb Young give voice to what every individual pursuing a creative end has experienced: sometimes it feels like the answer will never come. He explains that hopelessness is every bit as important a step in the creative process as any other…

A hallmark of the "not done, but begun" mentality is regular, disciplined practice. It's how we improve in any skillset, and creative thinking is no different.

From the fantastic "A Technique for Producing Ideas"…

Speaking of gardening...

One of the things that's truly special about Amazon is their ability to build new businesses. You might even say it's their competitive advantage, the ability to build new businesses that seemingly have little to do with the original vision. Much has been written about this phenomenon, so I won't go into too much detail here…

For all of the important benefits that the notion of "the design sprint" has conferred upon the corporate world, I think it has done the practice of innovation one great disservice: it has unintentionally implied that great ideas are easily come by, and are the function of episodic, momentary bursts of effort.

Nothing could be further from the truth…

I was talking with a good friend of mine the other day, the CEO of a 100,000+ employee organization. We were talking about the challenge of designing space for spontaneous meetings in the midst of a pandemic which has most office building shuttered…

Noodling on yesterday's post about Einstein's productive diversion, I found myself wondering: when is diversion NOT a waste of time? When is it the good kind of procrastination, and NOT the bad kind?

When, if you will, does one have permission to seek diversion?…

We've all been there: struggling against some challenge, banging our head against the wall. The ideas aren't coming. Maybe it's a work problem, or even a personal challenge…

One of my favorite passages of Isaacson's "Steve Jobs" is where Steve describes the rationale behind the unique elements of Pixar's headquarters in Emeryville. Reflections on the implications on mid-COVID innovation follow…

Yesterday I mentioned the importance of LOVE in driving a team to push beyond the competition in designing spectacularly lovable products. Paul Graham wrote a recent post ("Think For Yourself") that touched on this idea, at least superficially…

I have been absolutely spellbound reading Walter Isaacson's "Steve Jobs." It's an incredible piece of living history that pulls back the curtain on so many of the innovations that have shaped the world in my own lifetime…