SERENDIPITY FRIENDLY

As the speed of doing business accelerates, rethinking business models and redesigning organizations have become table stakes activities.

To be successful, leaders must get comfortable developing creative relationships with uncertainty.  The current business environment requires the courage to embrace ignorance and radically reframe the questions we ask. Goals need to be focused on setting direction, not necessarily with the specific destination in mind. Being comfortable at the edge of uncertainty is now a prerequisite to successful leadership.

Uncertainty and unpredictability can be used as routes to innovation as long as we learn how to connect the dots and utilize “smart luck.” Christian Busch, Director at NYUs Center for Global Affairs, posits that serendipity is the result of the ability to spot triggers or unexpected events and relate them to something else that becomes relevant or meaningful. This talent is known as bisociation. 

Being alert to your surroundings creates an atmosphere where bisociation can flourish. The agenda for all team meetings should include a question of whether anyone had any unusual or interesting business experiences since the last meeting. Those discussions should encourage cross-pollination of ideas and risk-taking.

Serendipity is a skill. Your brain must be in developing mode all the time. The ability to connect seemingly unrelated events, ideas, or existing products is at the heart of serendipity. It requires courage. Ideas and products may be evolving from what appear to be unusual linkages. Those are sometimes hard stories to tell a board, a boss, even yourself. 

Give serendipity a chance. Smart Luck is something of which a company should be proud!