Explore Blind Alleys
Albert Einstein’s inefficient approach to innovation was criticized by renowned mathematician Henri Poincaré, who said, “since he seeks in all directions, one must expect the majority of the paths on which he embarks to be blind alleys" (from Walter Isaacson's, Einstein: His Life and Universe). Here’s the problem with that logic: innovation is not efficient!
I was reminded of this while listening to a fascinating interview of Elon Musk. I once saw Musk give a talk at Stanford, where he straightforwardly described how the form of government on Mars will be “up to the Martians,” with a completely straight face. He took this very seriously.
In the interview linked above, Musk describes how seriously he took the challenge of trying to find a better candy: “We were able to improve it marginally, but not significantly. Unless it is significantly better, it’s not worth it.” That’s right, I said C-A-N-D-Y. He was legitimately seeking to make candy “significantly better.”
You might think, “What is Elon Musk doing wasting his time on trying to improve candy?” Yet, if you listen to the interview, you see how seriously he took the question, almost as seriously as he takes the Martians’ right to determine their own form of government.
Essential to the creative impulse and enterprise is the willingness to explore directions that seem trivial to others. What if there had been a break through on the candy front? Might that be his next breakthrough company? Tesla, SpaceX, and CandyCo?
What about you? Is there anything absurd in your portfolio? Do folks accuse you of going down blind alleys? If not, maybe you haven’t sufficiently considered the underlying odds of innovation…
Related: Entertain Absurdity
Related: A Majority of Blind Alleys
Related: Don’t Be Efficient
Related: Consider The Odds
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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.