· 7 years ago · Jan 26, 2019, 08:14 AM
1BREAK THE RULES
2
3You’ve probably heard that it’s unwise to break the rules until you know how to use
4them. You’ve probably also heard the opposite—there are no rules—it’s the job of
5innovators to disregard convention. Which of these is true?
6Oddly, both. This is the Genius Paradox. You have to disobey the rules of creativity
7to obey the rules of creativity. And in obeying the rules of creativity, you automat-
8ically disobey the rules of creativity. That’s because the number one rule is to break
9the rules.
10Creative rules are not rigid dictates but rough principles—patterns that a variety of
11artists, scientists, and thinkers have used for centuries as the scaffolding for their
12inventions. You shouldn’t be a slave to them. You don’t need to keep them in your
13conscious mind. But having considered them will broaden your repertoire for any
14creative challenge that calls for a full response.
15Here’s how to resolve the Genius Paradox:
16
171) React to the rules by embracing them or breaking them.
18
192) Observe the results.
20
213) Rewrite the rules from your own experience.
22
23You’ll find that there are rules for creativity—your rules. They may not be the ones
24that others follow, but they’ll be true and useful to you.
25One caveat: Make sure your new principles are not just scars from a previous expe-
26rience—it’s easy to draw the wrong conclusion from a single failure. Weigh your
27newly forged rules against the rules of the ages to make sure they have the heft and
28hardiness to do the job.
29
30WISH FOR WHAT YOU WANT
31
32Wishing is like a warm-up sketch for problem solving. When you let your mind
33wander across the blank page of possibilities, all constraints and preconceptions
34disappear, leaving only the trace of a barely glimpsed dream, the merest hint of a
35sketch of an idea. To start wishing, ask yourself the kind of questions that begin:
36
37How might I...?
38
39What’s stopping us from...?
40
41In what ways could I...?
42
43What would happen if...?
44
45From there you can ask follow-up questions like:
46
47Why would we...?
48
49What has changed to allow us to...?
50
51Who would need to...?
52
53When should I...?
54
55At this stage there’s no reason to place limits on your wandering. What’s the can’t
56do that you wish were a can do? The future problem you could start solving now?
57The half-baked notion you’d like to see a reality? Where’s the place where the sud-
58denly possible meets the desperately necessary? Wishing allows you to leave the
59realm of limitations, if only for a few moments, to imagine a future worth pursuing.
60
61FEEL BEFORE YOU THINK
62
63Don’t jump into planning as soon as you’ve sighted a goal. Learn to be still and lis-
64ten. Pay attention to the nagging voice. The uneasy stomach. The barely felt long-
65ing. Your subject may have something to tell you.
66Resist the temptation to impose a cookie-cutter solution on an intriguing problem,
67or a groundbreaking solution on an insignificant problem. Hold back until you’ve
68had enough time to sort through your feelings and consider the issues. Depending
69on the nature and scope of the challenge, this could take five seconds or five days.
70It takes what it takes.
71Have you ever noticed that when you’re searching for facts, you’ll cast your eyes
72downward as if the information were on the table? And when you’re trying to invent
73an answer, you’ll look upward as if the solution were on the ceiling? These are
74commonly observed tendencies in problem solvers. But when you’re trying to
75access your intuition, looking won’t help at all. You’ll need to feel.
76Feeling your way to a solution is like an athlete deciding his or her next move. It
77happens more in the body than the brain. It gives you direct access to your intu-
78ition so you can bypass the usual fears, distractions, default solutions, and ego
79traps that can make your work less than brilliant. Feeling lets you forge a connec-
80tion with your subject that mere thinking can’t reach.
81Close your eyes and drift with the problem. Let it talk to you. Imagine you’re a psy-
82chologist, and the problem is your patient. Listen carefully. Give it your deepest
83empathy and fullest attention. Be available to the problem. Don’t try to fix it. Feel
84your way forward.
85
86SEE WHAT’S NOT THERE
87
88One of the skills that separates a leader from a follower is the ability to see what
89might be, but so far isn’t. Most people can see what’s already there. You don’t need
90magic glasses to see that the Eiffel Tower is a popular tourist destination, or that
91the area of a rectangle is the product of its height and width, or that millions of
92people will pay extra for a fancy cup of coffee. But you do need magic glasses to
93see what’s still missing from the world, since by definition what’s missing is invis-
94ible.
95The trick is to notice what artists and designers call negative space. It’s the plain
96background of a painting, the white space on a printed page, the silence between
97lines of a play, or the rests within a musical score. In the world of art, these are pur-
98poseful elements of composition. In the market-place, these are crevices that har-
99bor opportunity.
100Try these three techniques for discovering the negative space in a marketplace, a
101problem, or a situation.
102Sift through threats for hidden possibilities. Every threat carries with it the potential
103for innovation. The problem of obesity contains the possibility of new kinds of
104nutrition. The problem of global pollution contains the possibility of new energy
105sources. The problem of high unemployment contains the possibility of new
106educational models. The list is endless, if you can learn to see what’s not there.
107Examine sectors for uneven rates of change. The future is already here, goes the say-
108ing—it’s just distributed unevenly. Look for areas that have changed, then look for
109similar or adjacent areas that haven’t changed. Search for pockets of resistance to
110successful new ideas. Chances are, it’s only a matter of time before change comes.
111Why not be the catalyst?
112Imagine how a growing trend might affect an established norm. Make a list of nascent
113and dominant trends, then mentally apply them to industries, businesses, and activities that haven’t changed for a long while. What will the trend toward organic
114farming mean for fast-food restaurants? What will mobile payments do to retail
115shopping habits? How might nanotechnology change the energy market? How will
116always-on computing change the college experience?
117To find out what’s not there, look for the job not done, the road not taken, the
118product not made. These are the magic glasses that let you see the invisible and
119conceive the inconceivable.
120
121ASK A BIGGER QUESTION
122
123Figure out what type of problem you’re solving. Is it a simple problem? A complex
124problem? A structural problem? A communication problem? A technology prob-
125lem? A political problem? A leadership problem? A design problem? A budget
126problem? Unless you know what type of problem you’re solving, your solution will
127be wrong, no matter how well you seem to solve it.
128For most of us, the problems we tackle are given to us by someone else—a boss, a
129teacher, a client, a committee, an organization. While the problem may seem log-
130ical in the way it’s stated, a little bit of probing may reveal a faulty framework.
131The framework is the boundary drawn around it, the “rope of scope†that keeps it
132from sprawling to infinity. It narrows the focus, suggests a direction for the work,
133limits the investment, and determines how success is measured. If the framework
134is wrong, everything else will be wrong.
135Your first impulse may be to accept the problem as stated. Resist. Be curious. Ask
136questions. Probe further. While it may seem disrespectful or annoying to pester
137your problem-giver with too many questions at once, that doesn’t mean you can’t
138raise them mentally and marshal your thoughts for a later conversation. In fact, you
139may not even have any questions at first. Sometimes questions need time to sur-
140face.
141As you become more proficient at accepting assignments, you’ll find questions like
142these helpful:
143
144Have we seen this problem before?
145
146What do we know about it?
147
148Are the boundaries the right boundaries?
149
150Are we even solving the right problem? Should we solve a bigger problem instead?
151
152If we succeed, what will be improved?
153
154What will be diminished?
155
156What will be replaced?
157
158What opportunities will it spawn?
159
160Who stands to gain and who stands to lose?
161
162Do we need to solve the problem at all?
163
164Who says? So what? Why not?
165
166By asking these types of questions, you may find that the boundaries of the prob-
167lem were drawn too small—the actual problem was more important, and the only
168reason to minimize it was to shrink it to fit a budget, a time frame, a job descrip-
169tion, or a skill set. While these may be issues, it’s better to face them head on and
170make them part of the brief.
171Or you may find that the frame was drawn the right size, but around the wrong
172challenge. The first question in creating something new is not how to, but what to.
173
174FRAME PROBLEMS TIGHTLY
175
176There’s a widespread myth that genius needs a large canvas. Yet every creative per-
177son knows this to be untrue. Too much freedom can lead to mediocrity. Why? Be-
178cause without boundaries there’s no incentive to break through them. A real genius
179has no difficulty redefining a brief or defying convention. It’s second nature. But
180give a creative person too much freedom, and you’ll get a final product that’s over-
181designed, over-worked, over-budget, and under-focused. The greatest gift you can
182give a genius is limitation, not license.
183The basic principle is this: A tightly structured brief will generate energy; a wide-
184open one will drain it. When creative people get into trouble, it’s not because they
185can’t see the solution—it’s because they can’t see the problem.
186Here’s a formula for framing a challenge in a way that lets you clearly see it:
1871. Write a problem statement. Summarize the challenge in a brief paragraph,
188then describe the most likely outcome if it’s not addressed.
189
1902. List the constraints. Constraints are creative limitations imposed by the
191problem. Is there a funding limit? A time limit? A technological barrier? A polit-
192ical barrier? A business constraint? A brand constraint? A knowledge gap? Com-
193petitive hurdles? Limitations are important because they tighten the frame and
194point to solutions.
195
1963. List the affordances. Affordances are creative possibilities that exist within
197the problem. While constraints close the door, affordances open a window.
198Constraints and affordances shape the space where new ideas can dance.
199What’s missing from the market? What are the capabilities I can call on? Who
200do I have on my team? How can the technology be advanced? What does the
201problem tell me? Inside every problem is a hidden solution.
202
2034. Describe success. Your problem statement suggests the most likely outcome of doing nothing. Now describe the most likely outcome if your solu-
204tion succeeds.
205
206Learn what geniuses have discovered throughout the centuries: A problem
207well-framed is a problem half-solved.
208
209THINK WHOLE THOUGHTS
210
211The human mind loves either/or choices. We prefer a choice of A or B. Yes or no.
212Chicken or beef. Simple choices give us a feeling of control, while open-ended
213choices give us a feeling of unease. Therefore we’d rather choose between than
214among.
215By the same token, we prefer to break complex problems into separate parts. It’s
216easier to focus on a single part than to hold a complex problem in our brain. Yet
217without a good view of the whole problem, it’s hard to see how the parts fit to-
218gether.
219To complicate matters further, we’re easily fooled by our emotions and intuition—
220the very instruments we rely on to guide us through the thickets of problem solv-
221ing.
222The fact is, the human mind is a mass of biases. Beginners are fooled by what they
223believe; experts are fooled by what they know. And the biggest bias of all is believ-
224ing you’re not biased.
225The counterweight to bias is thinking in whole thoughts instead of fragments.
226Squint your mind to blur the details. Look for how the parts of the problem fit to-
227gether. View a complex situation from a variety of angles so you can see the hidden
228connections and surprising possibilities.
229Start by examining it from three basic positions:
230First position, or the view from your own vantage point. Easy, but not always trust-
231worthy.
232Second position, or views from the vantage points of other relevant players. More
233difficult, requiring empathy and observation.
234Metaposition, or the view from outside the system. The most difficult of all, requir-
235ing objectivity and critical thinking, which don’t come naturally to most of us.
236The term for this “unnatural†style of thinking is systems thinking. It’s a method of understanding complex problems by studying the relationships of the parts to the
237whole. It’s a way to see the big picture and how it changes over time, more like
238watching a movie than viewing a snapshot.
239Systems thinking lets you solve problems by respecting their context. For example,
240when designing a chair, consider the room it will be in. When planning a room,
241think about the house it’s part of. When conceiving a house, respect the commu-
242nity it belongs to. When managing a community, consider the environment it’s
243supported by.
244When you think in whole thoughts instead of fragments, you create solutions,
245products, or experiences that resonate with the larger world, and thereby create
246broad, sustained value.
247
248STAY IN THE DRAGON PIT
249
250The “dragon pit†is the gap between what is and what could be. It’s a space filled
251with discomfort, darkness, and doubt. Most people would rather grab the first rope
252thrown to them—what is—rather than stay and fight the dragons guarding what
253could be. But what could be is where the ideas are. A genius is someone who can
254tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty while generating as many ideas as possible.
255The unresolved conflict we find in the dragon pit is actually a prime source of cre-
256ative energy. The gap between vision and reality produces creative tension, which
257can only be released by a new idea. Without creative tension, there’s no need to
258push forward to an alternate reality. Inevitably, the result of tension-free thinking is
259business as usual.
260The secret of creativity is to keep your ideas in a “liquid state.†Let them mutate,
261morph, and recombine as they bump into one another. Avoid the tyranny of no and
262the naïvete of yes, all the while holding onto the hopefulness of maybe. Often this
263requires courage, especially when the stakes are high. The cave you fear to enter,
264goes the ancient proverb, holds the treasure you seek.
265Creative thinking requires that you leave the known and venture into the unknown.
266This can be difficult if you’re deeply knowledgeable about your challenge, your
267discipline, or your industry. The known is an attractor state, a default position that
268pulls your mind like a magnet.
269When you find yourself stuck in your own knowledge, get unstuck quickly. Ask
270yourself why you’re stuck. Is it a lack of information? If so, get it. A lack of skills?
271Go develop them. Is it that the solution doesn’t exist? Move on to the next dragon.
272
273APPROACH ANSWERS OBLIQUELY
274
275The hallmark of innovation is surprise. No surprise, nothing new. Nothing new, no
276interest. No interest, no value. Therefore, creating surprise is a crucial step in cre-
277ating value through innovation.
278The first step in surprising others is to surprise yourself. This can be maddingly
279difficult, since you already know most of what you’re likely to think of. You may
280need to trick your mind into new modes of thought by using one or more of the
281following techniques. Nine approaches can help you make connections between
282seemingly unrelated ideas:
283Think in metaphors. A metaphor is a relationship between two dissimilar things:
284“The world is a stage.†By comparing the world to a stage, you can more easily
285imagine that we’re all actors playing a part—an insight you might not have had
286without the metaphor.
287Think in pictures. Visual thinking can strip a problem down to its essence, leading
288to profoundly simple connections that language by itself can’t make. The ability to
289draw stick figures, arrows, and talk balloons is all you need to think visually.
290Start from a different place. When you grab for the “correct†solution, brilliant solu-
291tions will elude you. You’ll get stuck in the tar pits of knowledge, unable to free
292your mind of what you already know. The easiest way to escape this trap is by re-
293jecting the correct solution—at least temporarily—in favor of the “wrong†solution.
294While the worst idea can never be the best idea, it will take your imagination to a
295different starting place.
296Steal from other domains. If you steal an idea cleverly enough, the theft will go
297unnoticed. While stealing is not as hard as exercising pure imagination, it still takes
298a mental leap to see how an idea from one industry or discipline could be adapted
299to another.
300Arrange blind dates. Great ideas are often two ideas that haven’t previously been introduced. Using a technique called “combinatory play,†you can throw unrelated
301ideas together to see if they create a new idea. Look for combinations that have a
302natural fit.
303Reverse the polarity. Write down as many assumptions about the problem as you
304can think of. Reverse them. Think about what it would take to make the reversed
305assumption true. Some of these may lead to new ideas.
306Ask simple questions. What else is this like? Who else believes this? What if I
307changed it slightly? What can I eliminate? What can I substitute? Is this the cause
308or the effect? What if I changed the timing? What if I made it bigger? What would
309happen if I did nothing?
310Watch for accidents. You can sometimes make the best discoveries when you’re
311searching for something else. Pay attention to anomalies, surprises, or feedback
312that confounds your expectations. These can open up exciting new areas of inquiry.
313Write things down. Not all your ideas will be worthwhile, but they may trigger new
314ideas. Make a list of your thoughts as you work through any problem. Keep a note-
315book, a sketchbook, a scrapbook, or an idea file. A pencil can be a crowbar for lift-
316ing ideas from your subconscious.
317
318WAIT FOR THE JOLT
319
320When the right idea comes along, your emotional brain sends a signal to the rest
321of your body. It’s a tingle, a flash, or a jolt that tells you something remarkable has
322happened. Suddenly the world reels, a thousand gears snap into place, and the
323long-hidden answer appears, shimmering, before your disbelieving eyes. Devel-
324oping a sensitivity to these signals is an integral part of being creative.
325But what if your idea is only new to you, and not to the rest of the world?
326And how do you know if it’s any good in the first place? Here’s where it helps to
327apply the six tests of originality:
3281. Is it disorienting? A great idea should be unsettling—not just to you, but to
329others in your group. Some people may reject it on the spot. This may be a
330good sign, since the potential of a new idea is often inversely proportional to its
331comfort factor.
332
3332. Does it kill ten birds? A good idea kills two birds with one stone. A great
334idea kills ten or twenty.
335
3363. Does it need to be proved? If an idea doesn’t need to be tested, it’s prob-
337ably because it’s not very original or not very bold. The skepticism that calls for
338a proof of concept is one of the signals of originality.
339
3404. Is it likely to force change? Great ideas are not polite. They never say
341they’re sorry. They don’t try to fit in. On the contrary, they force the rest of the
342world to change in self-defense.
343
3445. Does it create affordances? The measure of a great idea is the quantity and
345quality of affordances it throws off. Affordances are the opportunities inherent in
346an idea. The more affordances—for customers, a company, an industry, or soci-
347ety at large—the better the idea.
348
3496. Can it be summarized? A great idea can usually be described in a sen-
350tence. It has a strong internal order, one that answers to a clear and compelling
351purpose. If you find it hard to describe your idea, stop working on your descrip-
352tion. Fix your idea.
353
354USE BEAUTY AS A YARDSTICK
355
356The world’s greatest scientists, philosophers, and artists agree: If an idea isn’t
357beautiful, it probably isn’t innovative. They’re putting a special spin on the concept
358of beauty by defining it as a quality of wholeness, or harmony, that generates plea-
359sure, meaning, and satisfaction. A beautiful idea is often a great idea.
360While beauty can’t be reduced to a pat formula, it can be understood by seeing it
361as a system containing three interactive elements: surprise, rightness, and elegance.
362In everything we experience as beautiful, there’s a moment of surprise when we first
363encounter it. Surprise is the jarring pop of disrupted expectations—the “jolt†of
364rule #10. The pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction that follows this jolt can be experi-
365enced as a warm glow, a slowly spreading smile, or the hair standing up on your
366arms. Physiologically, it’s a blast of serotonin to your central nervous system.
367Rightness, the second element of beauty, is a kind of fitness for duty, a specific
368structure that lets the thing we’re encountering align with its purpose.
369Elegance, the third element, is a rejection of superfluous elements in favor of sim-
370plicity and efficiency. An elegant idea is one that has the fewest number of ele-
371ments that allow the whole to achieve its purpose. The best ideas seem so perfect
372that they leave no room in the imagination for anything better.
373When all three of these elements are working well together, an idea has enormous
374potential to improve the context in which it exists.
375How can you bring beauty into your work? By sha-ping it according to the prin-
376ciples of design. Anyone can be a designer. All you need is the will—and the skill—
377to change an existing situation into a better one. The next section of the book lays
378out the rules.
379LEARN HOW TO LEARN
380
381Learning to learn is a metaskill—a skill applied to itself. It multiplies your knowl-
382edge and accelerates your progress. When you learn to be your own teacher, you
383can acquire any skill you put your mind to. You can quickly build a new skill on the
384roof of the last one. You can move laterally from one skill to the next by bringing
385deeply understood principles to related disciplines. The ability to direct your learn-
386ing is personal growth squared.
387Teaching yourself is called autodidacticism. It requires that you develop your own
388theory of learning, a personal framework for acquiring new knowledge. While every
389person’s framework is different, here are ten principles you can use to construct it:
390Learn by doing. We learn better and faster when we use our hands, our senses, and
391our whole bodies in addition to our brains.
392Find worthy work. Not all work is educational, important, or fun. Look for work you
393believe in. It’s too hard to work with one hand holding your nose!
394Harness habits. The brain forms habits when routines are transferred from the ratio-
395nal level to the automatic level. They allow you to perform familiar tasks with little
396conscious effort, freeing up mental resources for new challenges.
397Focus on your goals. It’s easy to become distracted by shiny objects in your periph-
398ery. A genius learns to concentrate on a single task for an extended period of time.
399Cultivate your memory. While general knowledge is available online, your store of
400craft-specific knowledge needs to be ready at a moment’s notice. Memorize it.
401Increase your sensitivity. A key trait of genius is the ability to make subtle distinc-
402tions among outcomes. Consciously identify the nuances that separate the truly
403great from the merely good.
404Stretch your boundaries. To keep growing, always aim slightly beyond your current
405abilities.
406Customize your metaskills. Intuition, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, imagination, and other high-level skills can make a big difference in how you learn.
407Focus on the metaskills that will drive your professional success.
408Feed your desire. When you want something so badly that you never give up, suc-
409cess eventually surrenders to you. Keep the fires of passion burning with books,
410articles, talks, and conferences.
411Scare yourself. Take on projects and responsibilities that lie outside your comfort
412zone. Look for workarounds to mitigate your fears. As any genius will tell you, fears
413faced are fears erased.
414
415START WITH CURIOSITY, NOT BELIEF
416
417Ideology is toxic to learning. As soon as you begin to believe something, the spirit
418of inquiry dies. If you believe that climate change is unrelated to human activity,
419there’s no reason to change your behavior. If you believe that new technology is al-
420ways beneficial, there’s no reason to question it. If you believe your company is the
421best in its industry, there’s no reason to improve it. Belief is the surest way to stop
422imagination, innovation, and progress.
423There’s an old adage: “Seeing is believing.†The assumption is that we find it diffi-
424cult to accept anything as truth until we see the evidence for it. Yet it’s far more
425likely that, for most of us, believing is seeing. Once we believe something, we’re all
426too ready to see it as truth. Pyschologists call this phenomenon confirmation
427bias—a tendency to block out inconvenient facts that happen to contradict our be-
428lief system.
429A key characteristic of the genius is a strong disbelief system. Instead of starting
430from belief, the genius starts from a position of curiosity, wonder, skepticism, or
431iconoclasm. The journey leads from the unknown to the known, and, with luck and
432perseverance, you’ll discover new information along the way.
433The rule is simple: If you’re looking for real knowledge, keep ideology at bay. Pre-
434tend you’re an alien with no preconceptions about life on Earth. Lean on belief only
435when necessary. And even then, think of belief as a placeholder for knowledge—
436not knowledge itself.
437
438DO YOUR OWN PROJECTS
439
440Something happens when you work on challenges of your own choosing. Your
441mind becomes magnetized. It starts to attract little bits of information that can help
442you solve your problem or complete your project. While a magnetized mind can
443occur with any kind of challenge, the effect is strongest when the challenge rises
444from your own passion or your own sense of purpose.
445When you do your own projects, you give full play to four capabilities: 1) An abid-
446ing passion for discovery and innovation, 2) an ability to shape a large body of
447knowledge into a coherent system, 3) the skill to translate this system of knowledge
448into action, and 4) a capacity for deep concentration over an extended period of
449time.
450These are the traits of a genius. Everyone experiences some success in these areas
451during his or her life. What the genius does is to turn these traits into lifelong
452habits, which are then expressed as talent. Talent isn’t something we have—it’s
453something we do. We develop our skills in the course of working on the kinds of
454projects, problems, and challenges that address our deepest interests.
455While you can’t always bend your workplace to your will, you can look for small op-
456portunities on the outside, or after hours, to practice your craft. These experiences,
457far more than the daily grind of given assignments, will help you reach your cre-
458ative potential.
459
460KEEP A HERO FILE
461
462Students in creative disciplines sometimes worry that they might lose their per-
463sonal style if they allow themselves to be influenced by teachers, practitioners, or
464other students. They reason that imitation is the enemy of innovation. They believe
465that if the unique talent they need isn’t there already, it never will be.
466There’s a kernel of truth to this. But only a kernel. Because the way we actually
467learn is by standing on the shoulders of others. We acquire skills by watching more
468advanced practitioners do their work, eventually growing strong enough to support
469the weight of newer practitioners.
470To develop a strong personal style, open yourself to the widest possible range of
471influences. Look closely at the work of practitioners, groups, and cultures you ad-
472mire. Appreciate with felonious intent. When you see something you wish you had
473done, copy it, photograph it, tear it out, take notes on it; put it in a file, pin it to a
474board, tape it into a book, or keep it on a shelf. Your natural likes and dislikes will
475act as a filter, so that the examples you collect will begin to resemble your future
476style.
477Every time you start a new project, revisit your hero file and use the examples as
478benchmarks for quality. Don’t quit working until you’ve achieved something as
479good as one of the items you admire.
480Of course, standing on the shoulders of giants is one thing. Clinging to their pant
481legs is another. Make sure you steal the principles that underlie their work and not
482the work itself. Outright copying teaches very little. Learning to extract and apply
483principles is the path to genius.
484
485INVEST IN YOUR ORIGINALITY
486
487The ability to produce original work is a rare and valuable asset. It lies at the heart
488of innovation, strategic differentiation, and societal progress. It imparts a quality of
489“never-before-ness†that can command attention, fill voids, and create wealth. By
490definition, you can’t be original by copying an original. You have to start from a dif-
491ferent place.
492Originality doesn’t come from factual knowledge, nor does it come from the sup-
493pression of factual knowledge. Instead, it comes from the exposure of factual
494knowledge to the animating force of imagination. Imagination is the ability to con-
495jure mental images, sensations, or concepts without perceiving them through the
496senses. Everyone is born with this ability, but the genius is a person who cultivates
497it, applies it, and invests in it. Imagination is a learnable skill.
498Depending on the quality of your knowledge and the level of your imagination,
499originality can fall into four quadrants: 1) ideas adapted from the same domain, 2)
500ideas adapted from a different domain, 3) ideas that are new to yourself, and 4)
501ideas that are new to the world.
502If you have a little knowledge and a little imagination, you might be able to borrow
503an idea from a competitor and adapt it for your own purposes. While not truly orig-
504inal, it can nevertheless contain enough freshness to get the job done. You can
505take comfort in Voltaire’s claim that “originality is nothing more than judicious pla-
506giarism.â€
507But let’s say you have a bit of experience, and your subject knowledge is fairly
508broad. By applying a small amount of imagination to your larger knowledge base,
509you might be able to adapt an idea from a different domain—another industry,
510discipline, or culture. In this case your originality would be of a higher order, less
511like plagiarism and more like appropriation.
512Or maybe you have much less knowledge, but a well-developed imagination. You might be able to invent an idea you’ve never encountered before. Although others
513may have invented the same idea without your knowing it, the ability to imagine
514“new to you†ideas is the first step toward being an original thinker.
515As you accrue more knowledge and you exercise your imagination with deliberate
516practice, “new to you†can become “new to the world.†At this point you’ve seen
517enough to know what has and hasn’t been done, and inventive enough to fill the
518gap with a surprising idea.
519Originality is more than judicious plagiarism. It’s the ability to dream, to disas-
520sociate your thoughts from the linear and logical and end up someplace new. And
521like many skills that were once thought to be inborn, it must be learned.
522
523LEARN STRATEGICALLY
524
525You can learn anything, but you can’t learn everything. Be careful what you take
526into your brain-attic, since there’s only so much room up there. Pick your subjects
527with a sense of purpose.
528For example, if your goal is to bring a cinematic quality to video games, you should
529stuff your brain with the history of film, graphic novels, and representational art.
530You should pay attention to dance, sports, and music. You should master the dig-
531ital tools of your trade, and take a strong interest in emerging technology. While
532you can certainly take up dog training on the side, starting a whole second career in
533dental hygiene would probably slow your progress.
534It’s a competitive world, and the best way to outrun your competitors is to outlearn
535them. This doesn’t mean burning the midnight oil week after week, month after
536month, head buried in books or eyes glued to various screens. It’s not about the
537quantity of your knowledge. It’s about strategic alignment. Does your learning line
538up with your goals? Will it lead to fresh insights or deeper understanding? There’s
539plenty of time to learn everything you need to know, as long as you learn strate-
540gically and not randomly.
541Over the long haul, how you learn is more important than what you learn. When
542you know how to learn, you start to use the most powerful metaskill of all. It’s the
543self-awareness that comes from observing what you think while you’re thinking it.
544“Metacognition†tells you when and how to use a particular strategy to get the
545most useful knowledge, right when you need it. It saves time and energy, which
546you can then apply to more learning, which in turn saves more time and energy.
547Great for you, great for your dog.
548
549SHORE UP YOUR WEAKNESSES
550
551There are two contradictory schools of thought on developing skills. The first is to
552build on your strengths and forget about your weaknesses. The second is to
553strengthen your weaknesses until your report card is all As. Unfortunately, both
554schools of thought fail to nurture your inner genius.
555The truth is, brilliant people often start with a lopsided skill set. They fall in love
556with a subject or activity for which they have a special knack, then keep adding to
557their skills while letting other subjects or activities slide. This creates a canceling
558effect: they get good at what they love, but their lack of ability in other areas limits
559their success. Think of the engineer without the right people skills, or the entre-
560preneur who can’t balance a checkbook.
561The remedy for lopsided brilliance is to simply shore up your deficiencies and not
562try to eliminate them. You don’t need the skills of an orator to be a thought
563leader—just original ideas and the courage to deliver them from a podium. You
564don’t need the drawing skills of a Leonardo da Vinci to be a great painter—just a
565grasp of aesthetics and a vision for the next big thing in art. The idea is to neu-
566tralize your weaknesses so your strengths can operate unfettered.
567The concerns of a genius fall into three main areas: 1) originality (applied imagi-
568nation), 2) craft (mastery of tools), and 3) efficiency (getting things done). If you’re
569like many creative people, you’re strong in only two of these areas. All you need to
570do is neutralize your weakness in the third. For example, if you’re strong in origi-
571nality and craft, prioritize speed. If you’re strong in craft and efficiency, prioritize
572originality. If you’re strong in efficiency and originality, prioritize craft. By shoring
573up your weakest area, your genius is free to soar.
574
575SPEND LONG HOURS IN THE JOY ZONE
576
577When your work contains an element of joy, you learn faster. This is called ludic
578learning, or learning by playing. What makes it so effective is the space it allows for
579positive emotions. Emotions drive attention, and attention drives learning. Physio-
580logically, creative play releases endorphins, tiny molecules that put you in a good
581mood. When you’re happy, you’re more creative. When you’re unhappy, you lose
582access to your intuition. Happiness and creativity are mutually supportive.
583How do you know when you’re in the joy zone? When you lose track of time and all
584you can think about is the work itself. This doesn’t mean that your task suddenly
585seems easy, or that you’re aware of having fun, but that you’re completely ab-
586sorbed in your challenge. You’re working in the Goldilocks channel: not too easy,
587not too hard—just right. People in this state can learn new skills up to ten times as
588fast as those who are anxious (with a too-difficult task) and those who are bored
589(with a too-easy task). Long hours become short hours when your work is playful.
590It’s generally acknowledged that creativity seems to happen “out of time,†as if the
591clock doesn’t matter. What’s less acknowledged is that creativity actually requires
592this condition to flourish. Creativity simply takes as long as it takes. The more you
593try to rush it, the less you achieve. The less you try to rush it, the more you achieve.
594You can’t reasonably expect to have an epiphany by 11:45 or an innovation a week
595from Tuesday. But if you forget about the clock, you may well have an innovation a
596week from Tuesday, if not sooner.
597Creative learning assumes freedom—the freedom to find the right balance between
598your personal ability and your challenges. You have to identify your strengths, dis-
599cover the right medium in which to express them, and allow yourself the necessary
600time to experiment and push the limits of your understanding. Ludic learning is
601often the doorway to genius.
602
603MAKE EDUCATIONAL MISTAKES
604
605In the realm of creativity, mistakes aren’t mistakes. They’re clues. Each one reveals
606a part of the mystery you’re trying to solve.
607The fact is, if you already knew how to proceed with a project, you wouldn’t need
608creativity. You could just follow the recipe, read the manual, or tick the boxes. Cre-
609ativity is the discipline you use when you don’t know the answers, when you’re
610traveling to parts unknown. On this type of journey, missteps are actually steps.
611Every mistake brings you closer to the solution.
612But here’s the catch: You have to make bold mistakes. Smart mistakes. New mis-
613takes. Because if you only do what you’ve always done, you’ll only get what you’ve
614already got. You have to try, fail, and learn. Then try something new, fail a different
615way, learn more.
616When you make a prototype, you’re making a prediction—a testable assumption
617that lets you see what works and what doesn’t. This is not unlike the way your brain
618works. It continually makes predictions against reality while your dopamine cells
619keep score. Before your predictions can be right, they have to be wrong. A wrong
620prediction then becomes a “wake-up call†that your dopamine cells convert into an
621emotion, which is stored in your memory as knowledge. The stronger the emotion,
622the stronger the memory.
623One of the benefits of purposeful failure is a gain in resourcefulness. Often the
624most resource-ful person is the one who has tried the most approaches, taken the
625most risks, failed the most times. The continuous process of trying, failing, and
626learning builds up a wide range of responses that can address a variety of prob-
627lems.
628The lesson for innovators is this: Instead of fearing failure, embrace it. Fail big. Fail
629often. Keep trying. Remember that making anything begins by making mistakes.
630
631SEEK INSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
632
633When you’re working in creative mode, you’re more likely to be imaginative and
634intuitive. But you’re also more likely to make logic errors. Switching back and forth
635between creative mode and critical mode is difficult, since it requires considerable
636mental and emotional effort. The best cure for logic blindness is to seek regular
637feedback from people who can critique your ideas instructively rather than
638constructively. It’s your job to be constructive—you’re the maker. What you need
639from them is a clear view from the outside. Ideal critics are those who will:
6401. Listen to your idea, ask questions, and not react too quickly.
641
6422. Strive to judge your idea against your specific intent.
643
6443. Summarize your idea in a way that seems fair and even insightful.
645
6464. Identify any aspects of your idea that they agree with or appreciate.
647
6485. Finally, identify aspects that they question or find lacking.
649In the real world, however, the feedback you get may be reactive, subjective, nega-
650tive, or less than insightful. Sometimes you’ll find it possible to erase the doubts of
651naysayers with a slight modification to the work. Resist the temptation to argue. Try
652to understand your critic’s position, do your best to act on any advice, and always
653express your gratitude. Even off-target feedback can be instructive if you approach
654it objectively. What doesn’t kill your project can make it stronger.
655
656FUEL YOUR PASSION
657
658Creativity doesn’t respond to time management so much as passion management.
659Passion—the deep excitement you feel about your subject, your project, your pro-
660fession—is the engine of creative genius. While you only get a certain amount of
661time in each day, you can expand your passion nearly without limit. You can pump
662it up, stretch it out, increase its intensity—all with a bit of management.
663The key to passion is to treat it as a resource, like a savings account or a kitchen
664garden. If you want to maintain a bank account, you need to make deposits. If you
665want to keep a vegetable garden, you need to tend your plants. If you want to feed
666your passion, you need to invest in your projects, your learning, and your inspi-
667ration. The investment can come in the form of reading, seminars, workshops, in-
668ternships, pro bono work, time off, or simply doing projects you love. The goal is
669to return to work refreshed and renewed.
670But where does passion come from? Do some people have more than others? Is
671the game somehow rigged? The best answer is that each of us is born with a cer-
672tain capacity for it, and then we develop it according to our abilities and desires.
673You may be the kind of person who falls deeply in love with a subject overnight but
674has trouble maintaining interest for more than a few months. Or maybe you’re the
675opposite: a person who takes a long time to develop an interest but then stays with
676it for decades. There are some people with so many interests they can’t seem to
677focus on one, and others who grapple with periodic depression, unable to stay ex-
678cited about anything at all.
679While everyone’s situation is different, the principle is the same: Passion drives
680creativity. Fuel it, protect it, tend it, grow it. Manage it as the renewable resource it
681is.
682
683DEVELOP AN AUTHENTIC STYLE
684
685Everyone has a personal style of working, but not everyone has a “good style.â€
686Good style grows out of good taste—an appreciation of the way aesthetic prin-
687ciples determine beauty. Think of your taste as an ability to recognize what’s beau-
688tiful, and your style as the way you apply your taste. Personal style is unique by
689definition—it responds to a variety of factors, including your goals, your profes-
690sion, your training, your culture, your life experiences, and the quirks of your per-
691sonality.
692But what about good taste? Is it personal or universal? Here we wade into muddy
693waters. When it comes to taste, it’s impossible to separate the personal from the
694universal. Still, it may be helpful to think of good taste as a universal ideal, an
695understanding of aesthetics that crosses all boundaries by addressing our deeply
696human need for delight. Those who are trained in the principles of aesthetics are
697more likely to notice the presence of good taste wherever and however it occurs. A
698Ming vase is beautiful whether you’re Chinese, German, Australian, or Icelandic. A
699J-class yacht would be as beautiful to a thirteenth-century peasant as a twenty-first-
700cen-tury sailor.
701Those who are untrained may “feel†the presence of good taste, but not necessarily
702recognize it as such. They’re more likely to define good taste as only what’s fash-
703ionable, lavish, elaborate, or expensive.
704Good taste is often none of these things. It’s the knowledge of how aesthetics can
705make a designed object or outcome more of what it should be, and less of what it
706shouldn’t.
707Furthermore, you can’t buy good taste. You can only earn it through effort. Good
708taste, unlike beauty, is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s universal.
709Good style, however, is particular to the person creating the work. Your personal
710style is different from my personal style.
711In developing an approach to work, resist the temptation to put on a style by adopt-
712ing “stylistic†elements—such as overusing jump cuts in a movie, or always wear-
713ing one red sock. Reject all mannerism, ornament, and affectation. The route to
714style runs straight through authenticity, simplicity, and directness.
715Now, here’s a secret: A good personal style will mostly come from your limitations,
716not your strengths. It’s the result of working around your shortcomings, using all
717the aesthetic skills you can muster. Since your limitations are unique to you, your
718style will also be unique. This is what people find most fascinating about stylish
719people. They’re uniquely and delightfully themselves. We can look to Oscar Wilde
720for the best advice: “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.â€
721
722PRACTICE
723
724All creativity contains an element of craft, a set of making skills that connects aes-
725thetic judgment with creative tools. The musician needs to turn her instrument into
726an extension of her mind and body. The furniture designer needs to get a “feel†for
727his equipment and materials. The CEO needs to master a wide range of reports,
728metrics, and control mechanisms. The software engineer needs to make his devel-
729opment tools second nature. The writer needs to develop an “ear†for vocabulary,
730grammar, and punctuation.
731Without the skills of your craft, you might be able to come up with original ideas.
732But you’d have difficulty making your ideas stick—demonstrating, developing, test-
733ing, and sharing them. Skills bridge the gap between thinking and making. There
734are no skills without practice—practice is the exercise gym of genius.
735But what kind of exercises do you need? It’s obvious that a concert pianist will
736need to practice scales for many hours a week. It’s not so obvious what an app de-
737signer should practice. The fact is, there are as many ways to practice as there are
738practitioners. It’s up to you to decide what skills you’ll need to build, and then what
739kind of exercises you’ll use to build them.
740Whereas what to practice is specific to your craft and your goals, how to practice is
741universal. Here are seven tips for mastering the art of practice:
7421. Control your environment. Have a regular place to work—a room, a shop, a
743desk, a lab, a studio, or a quiet corner with a comfortable chair. Find a space
744where you can work without interruption.
745
7462. Practice consciously. High-level skills don’t come from mindless repetition.
747They come from intelligent repetition—doing something over and over while
748thinking about how to improve. If you’re conscious of your actions now, they’ll
749become mindless good habits later.
750
7513. Set aside a regular time. If you try to fit practice sessions into random time
752slots, your progress will be slower than if you practice on a schedule. You might
753not need much time—15 minutes, 45 minutes, maybe an hour—depending on
754the skill you’re trying to learn.
755
7564. Take baby steps. It’s better to learn in easy stages than in one big practice
757session. Practice, take a break, practice, take a break, practice, take a break.
758You’ll find that after each break, your skills will be stronger.
7595. Make your exercises fun. Design your sessions to be games. Keep them
760light, change them around, invent new rules, play around with them. As soon as
761you make practice a chore, the learning goes right out of it.
762
7636. Seek feedback. Learning any skill depends on a feedback loop. You try
764something, then you measure the result against a goal or a standard. With every
765try, your subconscious is learning what works.
766
7677. Celebrate small gains. When you take notice of your gains, you learn more
768joyfully and more eagerly. Take a moment to appreciate them when they happen.
769You’ll find that small improvements add up quickly.
770
771OVERCOMMIT TO A MISSION
772
773Passion is a powerful thing. But it’s not always strategic. We live in a society where
774competition creates winners and losers. Unless you apply your passion to a unique
775purpose, you’re likely to be squeezed out by equally passionate competitors. It’s a
776cruel world. But it doesn’t have to be if you master “nichemanshipâ€â€”the art of
777dominating a specialty that’s unavailable or uninteresting to others.
778None of us is born with a purpose, but nature has equipped us with goal-seeking
779minds that let us perform better in the context of one—a sense that life means
780something. It’s the belief that we matter, that we’re making a positive contribution
781to society. The best way to make a contribution is to find the overlap between what
782you have to give and what the world needs.
783You may be passionate about acting, for example, but the theater doesn’t need an-
784other actor. It has plenty of actors, and thousands more waiting in the wings. What
785the world needs is a remarkable actor. It needs an actor who is exceptionally good,
786exceptionally different, or special in some useful way. If you want to be an actor,
787you need to find out what the profession needs, then decide whether you alone can
788be the solution. If you can’t, you may end up as one of thousands who compete
789away each other’s chances for work.
790The fastest way to find your niche is to pay attention to what makes you different.
791This is counterintuitive for students and beginners who assume that what’s dif-
792ferent about them is what needs to be corrected. As you enter the workplace, it
793pays to find out which of your flaws might actually be features. The actor who loses
794key roles to charismatic competitors might prove highly successful in supporting
795roles. The family practice physician with a so-so bedside manner could end up as
796an exceptional medical researcher. The corporate manager who has trouble staying
797focused might be surprisingly effective as an entrepreneur.
798The best strategy is to choose a direction that lets you work with your whole heart instead of a divided heart. Overcommit to a mission that fits your interests, stretch-
799es your abilities, and gives you the potential to make a difference. If a thing isn’t
800worth doing, it isn’t worth doing well. Wholeheartedness confers a distinct advan-
801tage upon those who can offer it. It turns ordinary work into extraordinary work,
802and it opens the tiniest niche to a world of possibilities.
803
804STAY FOCUSED
805
806Creativity requires sustained focus. Whether you’re working alone or in a group,
807you need the ability to pay attention. Paying attention is an apt phrase, because it
808costs something to focus. You pay the price in psychic energy. Most of us can
809focus on a difficult task for a few seconds or a few minutes, but it’s real work to
810stay in the game much longer than that. Our minds tend to wander, looking for an
811escape. We can almost feel our brain squirming in its seat.
812Difficulty focusing isn’t new, but our attention spans are getting shorter as the
813pace of life speeds up. This is the trap of today’s “always on†culture. If we’re al-
814ways on—dealing with distractions, interruptions, and just plain busy-ness—then
815our creative brains are always off. We’re left with partial thoughts, partial experi-
816ences, and partial understanding.
817This doesn’t mean that you should avoid any activity that doesn’t align with your
818mission. In fact, outside interests—and downtime—are just as critical to achieving
819your goals as direct interests. They serve to round out your skill set and reignite
820your passion. The point is that creativity takes concentration, the ability to stick
821with a problem long enough to get beyond shallow, multiple-choice answers.
822Leonardo da Vinci was the very model of focus. By all accounts he was a highly so-
823cial creature—dressing in the latest fashions, hobnobbing with royalty, attending
824and designing the most glittery social events—but he would also disappear for
825weeks at a time, incommunicado, to pursue a line of questioning without inter-
826ruption. With this discipline he produced a huge body of artwork and invention,
827plus an extensive series of notebooks that included as many as 100,000 drawings
828and 13,000 pages of handwritten text.
829You can’t switch off the world. But you can lock it out temporarily while you work.
830You can carve out quiet time to think things through by yourself, so that when you
831return to the world you have something deep and whole to show for it.
832Working alone doesn’t mean being lonely. It doesn’t even mean being alone. But it
833does mean paying attention, listening to your own voice, and listening to the voices
834of others with sustained focus. Only when you’ve mastered this habit can you hope
835to approach genius-hood.
836
837FOLLOW THROUGH
838
839Creativity takes perseverance: A great idea is not a great idea if no one gets to expe-
840rience it. What makes creativity especially difficult is that there are so many un-
841knowns. So many judgment calls. So many doubts about the outcome. A genius is
842the person who can power through the doubts to cross the finish line. Only the
843strongest are able to bounce back from the false starts, the setbacks, the wrong
844turns, and the strident voices of naysayers.
845This puts the creative genius in the same class as the mountain climber, the triath-
846lete, or the seeker of high office. Without perseverance, all you have is a plan, an
847intention. You can’t win if you don’t complete the race.
848There are several tricks for overcoming adversity on the long road to creative suc-
849cess:
850
8511) Focus only on the next step.
852
8532) Give yourself a reward at every milestone.
854
8553) When you encounter a setback, label it a setback.
856
8574) Revel in your mistakes and record them for posterity.
858
8595) Remember that all unfinished work seems unredeemable.
8606) Work so fast you won’t have time to evaluate it until it’s done.
861
862The vast majority of people give up before completing an ambitious personal
863project. By simply following through—by persevering—you may well find yourself
864among an elite group of innovators.
865
866DO GOOD DESIGN
867
868What is good design? It’s a question that has kept designers debating for decades.
869Usually it circles around questions of taste, fashion, or functionality. Whenever the
870conversation comes up, the “eye of the beholder†argument shuts it down. One
871person will say good design is design that “works,†and another person will say
872what works depends on the individual user. At this point everyone nods and the
873conversation ends. But the question is never fully put to rest.
874There’s a deeper and more satisfying answer. Good design does not depend as
875much on the eye of the beholder as it does on a combination of aesthetics and
876ethics: Good design exhibits virtues. What virtues? Timeless human virtues such
877as generosity, courage, diligence, honesty, substance, clarity, curiosity, thriftiness,
878and wit. By contrast, bad design is design that exhibits vices such as selfishness,
879fear, laziness, deceit, pettiness, confusion, apathy, wastefulness, and stupidity. In
880other words, we want the same things from design that we want from each other.
881When you combine ethics with aesthetics, you get good design.
882Can you have a generous brand? A courageous company? A diligent algorithm? An
883honest product? Of course you can. Just as you can have a selfish business, a fear-
884ful policy, a lazy service, or a deceitful ad campaign. Good design is always aimed
885at long-term, broad success, whereas bad design settles for short-term, narrowly
886defined success. If design is change, then good design is change that benefits the
887largest number of people over the longest period of time.
888Take responsibility for your work. Create positive outcomes that reach beyond the
889near and now. Practice good design. Be a genius.
890
891BUILD SUPPORT METHODICALLY
892
893It’s one thing to be brilliant. It’s another to convince people around you that your
894brilliance is viable. Of course, you can’t blame them for shying away from risk.
895They may understand that every big idea starts out crazy, but they also know that
896every crazy idea doesn’t end up big. They’ve seen what can happen when enthu-
897siasm triumphs over caution.
898Picture this scene: You bring an ingenious plan to your boss and say, “Sit down,
899boss. I’ve got a great new idea.†You explain your plan in breathless detail. Your
900boss says, “Well, that certainly is a new idea. Who else has done this?â€
901“No one,†you say. “That’s the beauty of it!â€
902“Hardly,†he says. “That’s the danger of it. If we enact this plan, we could lose
903everything. Our business could disappear, we’ll both be out of a job, and our com-
904pany will be the laughingstock of the industry.â€
905What went wrong here? Simple. You made the naïve assumption that your
906epiphany will be an epiphany to anyone else who hears about it. What you ne-
907glected to consider was that it took you weeks of thought, research, design, and re-
908design to arrive at your conclusion. In addition, you have years of experience and
909knowledge in your special discipline. Expecting your boss to “get it†without the
910same knowledge is unrealistic.
911Imagine being shown a map of the world, only upside down, and being told that
912this is how all maps will be displayed in the future. Even though you know it’s the
913same map you’ve seen a thousand times, it suddenly seems unfamiliar. It feels
914wrong. It takes a bit of effort to accept the idea that Australia is “up over†instead of
915“down under.â€
916Now imagine being presented with an idea that’s guaranteed to turn your actual
917world upside down. It could be a radical new business initiative, a sweeping or-
918ganizational change, or an offer of relocation to another country. Your first reaction might be resistance. You might cast around for logical arguments against it. Your
919whole body might be urging fight or flight.
920A prerequisite for selling a new idea is to understand what geneticist J.B.S. Haldane
921knew when he charted the four stages of acceptance. Whenever a game-changing
922idea is presented, the first impulse of colleagues is to reject it as “worthless non-
923sense.†As it starts to get traction, the same colleagues label it “interesting, but per-
924verse.†Later, when the idea is all but proven, they admit that “it’s true, but unim-
925portant.†Finally, when success is assured, they claim “I always said so.â€
926The trick is to condense the four stages into a shorter time span. If you can take
927your audience on the journey from “worthless nonsense†to “I always said so†in a
928matter of days instead of months, you may be able to keep the integrity of your idea
929as you gather broad support. The best way to condense the journey is with a story.
930The story can take the form of a fable, a comic strip, a children’s book, or any other
931narrative vehicle. It can be illustrated with photos, drawings, charts, or videos. The
932main thing is to keep it simple. A deluge of facts will not win hearts and minds.
933When you lead people from what is to what could be with a simple story, they can
934more easily imagine themselves playing a role. And if you give them a clear illus-
935tration of the happily-ever-after moment, they’ll carry it in their minds as they go
936forward. Where there’s a way, there’s often a will.
937
938DON’T BLAME OTHERS
939
940Since the road to innovation is paved with mistakes, it’s sometimes tempting to
941place the blame on others. Don’t do it. Avoid pointing the finger, even when the
942problem is clearly not your fault. Take as much responsibility as you can.
943By the same token, when you’re working in a group, don’t offload responsibility to
944others by “leaving the ball in their court.†Try to keep the ball in your own court
945where you have control over it. And when you do send it over the net, follow it up
946to make sure it comes back.
947There’s something empowering about taking responsibility. You can make sure
948things are done right while averting delays and misunderstandings.
949Let’s look at two examples. In our first example,
950Jason works in a group tasked with reimagining the customer experience for his
951company. He asks his subordinate Mark to conduct some observational research
952that they could both present at the next group session. Three days before the meet-
953ing, he learns that Mark’s research won’t be ready. John, now facing a disappointed
954group, explains that Mark has been late with his materials. The leader of the group
955reluctantly replaces both John and Mark with another team.
956In our second example, at a broadcast company, Jennifer is working furiously to
957finalize a story for the evening news. Her computer crashes, erasing all her work.
958Earlier that day she had begged IT for help, but the technician never appeared. She
959calls her boss and sincerely apologizes for her embarrassing failure. Then she
960quickly locates an archived story to fill the scheduling hole, and sets about re-
961creating her story for a later program. A year later when her boss moves up to VP,
962Jennifer steps into her boss’s role.
963A benefit of taking responsibility is that you place yourself in a position of strength.
964People will tend to see you as a leader. They’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,
965and the freedom to set things right.
966
967JOIN A NETWORK
968
969You can be a genius all by yourself, but a genius without a community is not as
970powerful as a genius within a latticework of kindred spirits. As with any kind of lat-
971tice, whether physical, chemical, or social, it’s the connections between the parts
972that determine the collective power of the whole—and therefore its value to the
973parts. In a social network, how you connect is everything.
974There are two main ways to connect in a social network: bonding and bridging.
975Bonding is making friends with like-minded people—people of the same profes-
976sion, the same political party, the same religion, the same nationality, or the same
977age. Bridging is making friends with like-spirited people—people from different
978backgrounds, but with similar ethics and ambition. Both kinds of connections are
979necessary to be successful and happy. But bridging is the activity that brings the
980highest rewards for innovators.
981If you’re seeking new information or insights, you’ll need to look beyond your
982clique, since a clique is a closed system that acts more like a mirror than a window.
983Open the window. Connect with groups outside your circle. Put yourself in the way
984of meeting like-spirited people and not only like-minded people. There’s a popular
985saying that came from a Frank Sinatra song. It goes like this: If you can make it in
986New York, you can make it anywhere. While this may be true in some cases, for
987people in creative roles and niche businesses the opposite is more likely to be true:
988If you can’t make it anywhere else, you can probably make it in New York. Large
989populations provide the social and business networks that can nurture profes-
990sional success, especially when the profession is highly specialized or the spe-
991cialist has rarified skills. You can perform in musicals in the state of Nebraska, but
992you’ll learn much faster on the stages of New York.
993Furthermore, studies show that people are happier in social networks. People near
994the center of a community tend to grow happier over time than those at the edges.
995This is because people in networks tend to share more knowledge. When you con-
996tinually give away what you know, you learn to replenish your knowledge as you go,
997and you also benefit from the knowledge of others. Those who hoard knowledge
998don’t get much knowledge back.
999Genius is not so much something you have as something you do. You can believe
1000you have genius in private, but you can’t prove it unless you exercise it in public.
1001The facts are clear: Excellence thrives in a network.
1002
1003BECOME WHO YOU ARE
1004
1005The arc of human evolution is really the arc of human learning. Our biology keeps
1006improving, but only at a snail’s pace. Our culture evolves much, much faster. The
1007average IQ has edged upward in the last 50 years, whereas our biological brains
1008have hardly changed at all in the last 50,000 years.
1009Most of us assume that learning difficult subjects requires a higher IQ, but it’s
1010more likely that a higher IQ comes from confronting difficult subjects. In a way, we
1011don’t solve problems—problems solve us. They help us complete the puzzle of
1012who we are, asking us to stretch beyond our boundaries and confront what we
1013don’t know.
1014Genius, not evolution, is now the primary driver of progress. A genius is a person
1015who takes creativity to the point of originality while creating better and more beau-
1016tiful things—tools, objects, experiences, relationships, situations, solutions, and
1017ideas. If the outcome is not beautiful, the maker is not demonstrating genius but
1018mere creativity. Genius works on a higher level. It strives for elegance, ethics, and a
1019level of quality that comes from mastery.
1020There’s no set route to mastery. You can’t print out a map or follow the instruc-
1021tions of your GPS device. The only voice that really matters is the voice in your
1022head, the one telling you to leap on this opportunity, avoid that trap, wait and see
1023on that situation. In the pursuit of mastery, as in the geometry of nature, there are
1024no straight lines—only curving, broken, sketchy, or tentative ones. The kind of
1025learning that feeds your particular genius requires you take the scenic route, not the
1026shortcut.
1027That doesn’t mean you’re without resources. A hiker may not know what kind of
1028weather lies ahead, or what kind of terrain to expect, but she can start out with a
1029general plan, be prepared with a backup plan, pack the right equipment, and arm
1030herself with survival skills. Every step or misstep is provisional and correctable, a mini-lesson on the path to genius.
1031When you teach yourself, your learning is not part of a curriculum. There’s no cer-
1032tificate, no graduation day. Just the satisfaction of following your joy until you be-
1033come the person you’re capable of being—the kind of person who aspires not just
1034to be yourself but to make more of yourself—through learning, creativity, expres-
1035sion, influence, and love. You become the story you tell about yourself. Your story
1036is your map.
1037We’re not human beings; we’re human becomings. We’re not the sum of our
1038atoms; we’re the potential of our spirit, our vision, and our talent. We delight in
1039feeling alive, in seeing what’s possible, in putting our mark on the universe.
1040
1041MAKE NEW RULES
1042
1043The first rule of genius is to break the rules. The last rule is to replace them with
1044your own rules—variations drawn from your own experience, aligned with your
1045own style of working. Rules are not laws. They’re guidelines, and, as such, they
1046must be seen as provisional.
1047All true invention, like all true art, is an act of protest, a rebellion against rules that
1048have hardened into laws. Your job is to melt down the laws and recast them as
1049principles that make sense to you, your discipline, and the needs of your work.
1050The 46 rules in this book are not the complete catalog. There are scores of others
1051to be considered, tested, cherished, discarded, or recast. But these are ones that
1052I’ve found to be most important in my own work, and to me they seem fairly uni-
1053versal. My immodest hope is that they’ll serve as your inspiration as you create
1054your own rules, your own set of tools, forged in the fires of your passion, perfectly
1055balanced and fitted to your own hand.