Make Connections
Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is just connecting things.”
I don’t know how many people deliberately attempt making new connections, but it’s a good skill to develop. Multi-sport-athlete (world record holder!) and entrepreneur Laura D’Asaro pushes herself to make connections every single day. She is hands-down one of the most creative people I know, and one of the most inventive entrepreneurs I have met. In our fantastic conversation (available here) she described her process.
What’s your process for connecting things?
A couple of our favorites at the d.school are the Wonder Wander, Analogous Exploration, Divergent Diversions, and radical collaboration. Or you could tempt lightning with scrappy experiments.
The fundamental task of the innovator is to make connections.
As obvious as that sounds, I wonder how many folks go connection hunting.
Related: Seek Random Inputs
Related: Explore Analogies
Related: Divergent Diversions
Related: Recombine Existing Parts
Related: Tempt Lightning
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I'm best known for my work on innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. My “shift” toward AI might seem like a radical departure. But it's not a shift—it's an evolution. Having taught and spoken to tens of thousands from ~100 countries in the last two years, I’m more convinced than ever that AI isn't separate from innovation; it's the most profound innovation platform of our lifetime.