Cultivate Broad Correspondence
Charles Darwin, while working on the theory of natural selection, wrote an astounding 15,000 letters to over 230 collaborators across more than 10 different scientific fields. These letters were a patchwork precursor to keeping a blog, as he would physically cut passages out of old letters and glue them into new letters — old-school hyperlinking — shaping his thoughts as he shared them. Such correspondence enabled him to crystallize his ideas. It enabled him to test hypotheses, and refine his understanding. It led to one of the most remarkable leaps the scientific world had ever seen.
And while he is rightly credited with his theory, surely it would be wrong to assert that he came up with it all on his own. It’s always the case that new ideas are a combination of old ideas, and the theory of natural selection is no exception (in fact, Darwin’s own grandfather entertained the idea of evolution generations before him!).
But what struck me was the power of correspondence as a means of shaping one’s thinking. I’ve mentioned before the lengths to which my colleague Leticia goes to connect folks with relevant input, and how I admire her diligence in sharing.
But I wonder how many innovators appreciate the power of sharing partially-formulated thoughts, works in progress, as Darwin did. The perfectionist in all of us want things to be buttoned up before we share, but one of the defining characteristics of design work is sharing before you’re ready.
What if your work will never be perfect until you share it? What if sharing is the very thing that will move it forward?
Related: Recombine Existing Parts
Related: Share Before You Feel Ready
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The quality of our thinking is deeply influenced by the diversity of the inputs we collect. Implementing practices like Brian Grazer’s “Curiosity Conversations” ensures innovators are well-equipped with a variety of high-quality raw material for problem-solving.