If you find a problem that matters, you’re well on your way to a desirable innovation. How do you do that? Practice empathy.

I was blown away by Malcolm Gladwell’s response to the question, “If you were given a month to come up with an idea for a new story, what would you do?”

As valuable as napping is as a tactic for courting breakthroughs, the nap itself is unnecessary: it’s the honest attempt at sleep that opens the floodgates.

Mind wandering often connotes neglect. That’s a shame, because it’s essential to creativity: it enables the synthesis of unexpected connections, and the formulation of insights and fresh ideas.

My simple, battle-tested strategy for winning at the conference game. Developed to help combat the tendency to comfort-seeking and awkwardness-reduction. Applied in cringe-worthy moments, with delightful results.

Cartoonist and storyteller Mo Willems provides the key to overcoming imposter syndrome. You’ve got to do the thing you aren’t qualified to do, in order to be qualified to do it.

If you’re seeking innovation, then you’re going to fail a lot. These misses can’t weight too heavily on you. Seinfeld, Elon Musk, and others fail often. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

It’s hard to overstate the value of a good old fashioned obsession. Apathy is the enemy of creativity. Obsession fuels innovation. Here’s a great story of obsession at Netflix.

Experiment broadly! Fantastic example from Ogilvy on the power of fighting tunnel vision, which limit us to far narrower ideation and far fewer experiments than would be beneficial.

Most organizations’ first question of a new idea is its technical specifications: can we even build it? The most important question is not technical, but human. A better question is, “Should we build it?…”

It’s an enormous mistake to wait for lightning to strike. Seinfeld’s relentless approach to developing new material — and his mindset in so doing — gives him an incredible advantage in the creative process.

In this guest post, Erica Brown, an industry insider, shares tips for women working in technology.

There are no shortcuts to breakthrough outcomes. Even legends like Jerry Seinfeld — after long success — have to endure the pain that accompanies the early experiments on the way to the next innovation.

One of the greatest challenges on the journey to creative mastery is that the “rules” of productivity. Stories from Seinfeld and others encourage me to persist in the wrong direction.

Other minds represent one of the greatest sources of inspiration and leverage for problem solving endeavors. Ask these three questions to identify gaps in your portfolio of perspectives.

Very few teams see diversity as a lever they can pull to drive outcomes. “Team” is more of a fixed concept than a fluid one. The biggest opportunity is actually to deliberately dial up diversity on demand.

A message for young folks: amidst the frenzied pace of life, it’s tempting to veg out whenever you can. “Doomscrolling” is real! Instead of whittling away the hours, creative geniuses make good use of found time.

What if one reason we aren’t all a little more like Einstein is a simple cognitive bias? What if we could short circuit that bias with practice?

Good news: we can!

A critical priority in a productive, creative life is to make time to think, reflect, and synthesize. Here are a few examples of how spectacular innovators have carved out the necessary space.

The origin story of Netflix is a case study in innovation. Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings were uniquely positioned to take advantage of a market shift because they had a habit of exploring.