New ideas are only found in surprise.
Before Thomas Edison demonstrated the electric lamp on 31 December 1879, he was a laughingstock in the press. “I have not failed,” he famously said, “I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
To innovate something new, Edison had to leave behind what he already knew.
New ideas are only found in surprise.
What you already know will not help you discover anything new, unless you take your knowledge into the unknown.
There are things you know you don’t know, illustrated in the overlap above. But there are many more things you don’t know that you don’t know — and that’s a rich storehouse of possible innovation.
“To generate creative ideas, it is important to start from an unusual place. But to explain those ideas, they have to be connected to something familiar.” — Adam Grant
Discovery requires curiosity.
Being curious leads you away from what you already know for certain.
