Properties of a Good Idea

People often credit their ideas to individual “Eureka!” moments, but scientific writer, Steven Johnson, shows how history tells a different story. An idea is actually a network.

Johnson has made it his life work to study where good ideas come from and thinking about the questions “are there environments that lead to unusual levels of innovation and creativity?” and “Are there recurring patterns that we can learn from and apply to our own lives and businesses to make them more creative and innovative?

Head to the Assignment section to find out.

In our first week, we’ll cover where good ideas come from, including liquid networks, the adjacent possible, the slow hunch, serendipity, error, and more. We’ll also discuss how thinking about the properties of a great idea, and how changing the context of an idea is a way to discover more possibilities.

But first, I want to ask, when was the last time you had a creative idea? Today? Last week? Last year? What was it? What motivates you to be creative?

And here’s my reminder that you do not need to be an entrepreneur to:

Give yourself permission to think creatively
Think about how something could be better, more efficient, cheaper, faster, etc.
Have an entrepreneurial mindset
Once we unlock our mental locks, we all have the capacity to be creative and think differently. We’ll practice some of these exercises in our live session!

Assignment
(1) Watch the TED Talk below: Where good ideas come from with Steven Johnson

(2) Come to Tuesday’s live session with the following:

Your startup idea
The opportunity you are capitalizing on or the problem you are solving
Why your solution is better than any other solution available today
Who is your ideal customer?
How are you going to make money?