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Medici Magic In Making Intersections And Opportunities. Frans Johansson has written a book The Medici Effect which talks about the way different fields, disciplines and cultures can collaborate in producing limitless numbers of extraordinary ideas. For a businessman this can mean a new product, service, way of working, selling, marketing. It can be the way to solve problems, find new solutions and take on new challenges.

The Medici’s were a banking family that lived in Florence and funded creative people over a range of skills and disciplines. Because of their influence sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, financiers, painters, and architects came to Florence to work together. They learned from each other, breaking down barriers and forging a new world, based on ideas that became the Renaissance between the 14^th and 17^th centuries.

Power of the Intersection

It was the power of the intersection between these sets of knowledge that gave rise to what Johansson has called the Medici Effect. We too can bring about this explosion of ideas by finding ways in which cultures and ideas intersect. It is a mistake to think that it is only artistic people who can make this possible. In our world of ideas and communication we have a massive opportunity to forge new links and relationships between people who would normally see themselves as incompatible and separate.

In writing the book Johansson set himself 3 objectives he wanted to show you the reader.

1.–The first is to explain what, exactly, the Intersection is and why we can expect to see a lot more of it in the future. You will see how three critical forces are working together to increase the number of intersections around the world.

2.–The second is to explain why stepping into the Intersection creates the Medici Effect. You will see why it is such a vibrant place for creativity and how we can use intersections to generate remarkable, surprising, and groundbreaking ideas.

3.–Finally, the third objective is to outline the unique challenges we face when executing intersectional ideas and how we can overcome those challenges. You will see how execution at the Intersection is different from within established fields, and you will learn how to prepare for those differences.

Examples of the Intersection

He uses examples throughout the book of people who set themselves new objectives which combined fields which had never been seen as coming together.

George Soros, famous for making $1 billion in a few hours when he bet the British Pound was undervalued. Soros combined the fields of finance and philanthropy and his most important legacy will be the strategy he developed for transforming nations into open societies. He did this by working at the intersection of a number of fields to produce a world changing result.

Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist wrote the famous book ‘The Selfish Gene’ where he suggested that evolution did not occur between species or organisms, but between genes, which he called ‘selfish’. The intersection achieved by Dawkins was that he saw a parallel between genetic and cultural evolution and gave us the meme, a propagation of ideas, tunes, fashions, which are the building blocks of our culture. Memes move by jumping between brains using a process of imitation, thus spreading through our culture in a similar way to genes

Directional vs Intersectional Thinking

We tend to have 2 sorts of ideas. One is directional which continues along a well defined path from one step to the next, but the intersectional process is one that produces unexpected results and outcomes by the working together of different thought processes and share these characteristics:

• They are surprising and fascinating.
• They take leaps in new directions.
• They open up entirely new fields.
• They provide a space for a person, team, or company to call its own.
• They generate followers, which means the creators can become leaders
• They provide a source of directional innovation for years or decades to come.
• They can affect the world in unprecedented ways.

Johansson states it very well by saying:

For most of us, the best chance to innovate lies at the Intersection. Not only do we have a greater chance of finding remarkable idea combinations there, we will also find many more of them. To be specific, stepping into the Intersection does not mean simply combining two different concepts into a new idea. These types of combinations are part of both directional and intersectional innovation. Instead, the Intersection represents a place that drastically increases the chances for unusual combinations to occur.

Individual disciplines tend to be fragmented with a language and approach to problem solving that almost takes away the opportunity for synergy. By reversing this trend we build new relationships and languages that encompass a lot more.

There are 3 main forces at work.

The Movement of People

This is on the increase as populations become older, leading to lower birth rates and skill shortages. The flow of refugees and asylum seekers remains strong and many countries face problems that threaten their social security systems.

The Convergence of Science

In most fields we have reached a point where we do not have 100% of the knowledge but we know enough to make useful progress. This does not mean science has become less important, because now we look a lot at the interactions between systems. This brings together engineers, biologists and technologists to apply their knowledge to a massive range of topics and important parts of our world.

The Leap of Computation

Computing power doubles every 18 months which generates new intersections between fields that have been traditionally separate. This does not just enable us to do things faster, but allows us to do different and more tasks. Advanced communication has brought us the World Wide Web and GPS, cheaper phone calls and widescreen TVs. This has brought groups together in intersectional ways to produce opportunities for small start-ups and larger established companies.

Assumption Reversal

Assumption reversals are a very good way to change the way you think about almost anything. This is how it works:

1. First, think of a situation, product, or concept related to a challenge you are facing, and think about the assumptions associated with that situation.
2. Next, write down those assumptions; then reverse them.
3. Finally, think about how to make those reversals meaningful.

One of the more radical innovations in environmental management and control emerged by viewing an old problem from a different perspective. During the seventies and eighties, environmental groups and industry viewed air pollution and the resulting acid rain as an ecological or political problem, respectively. This led to legislative battles and loophole- ridden policies. One major innovation for effectively dealing with air pollution came about in 1990 when politicians and environmentalists began to view the problem from a market-based perspective.

By organizing a marketplace where companies could trade pollution rights, the overall level of emissions dropped by greater levels than ever before. Such an approach has since been emulated by other nations for this and other environmental problems around the world, such as global warming.

Using Luck to Make Changes

Quite often when you ask where a new idea came from you will be told it was luck. Hard work is also important, but the element of luck comes from using random combinations of ideas as ways of generating creative solutions. What you are looking for may be an innovative marketing campaign, or a new product and the solution will probably appear after a time of intensive thought and thinking about the challenge over a long period, then a period when you do not think about it. The idea is still in your mind for hours, weeks, months, and then one day something clicks. During the time your mind is silent your subconscious is working hard on finding the solution.

Prepared Mind Discoveries

The second form of random combinations happen when someone with a “prepared mind” comes across a phenomenon he or she had not set out to find. I say “prepared mind” because this particular observation could easily be missed unless one is prepared to understand its significance. A person can be working very hard on something in one area, but then by chance make a discovery regarding something fairly unrelated. Many examples of this type of random discovery are documented in the area of science and technology.

Many people are concerned by the notion that creativity is so dependent on luck. We imagine that logic or skill or something else, anything else, should have much more to do with it. We think it should be possible to figure out what is creative, and not be waiting for ‘a light to go on’, but in fact that is the way things happen.

Working With Diverse Groups of People

One of the best ways to make this magic happen is by working groups that have a wide range of interests. Generally we tend to stay with people who have our interests and outlook, but real creativity can spring from being with different mind sets and opinions. This is important when we interview people for jobs in our company. It has been shown that an unstructured interview has no validity as a selection tool because we always tend to look for patterns that match the way we think. If you want to look for ways to generate intersectional ideas it is important that you seek out new environments and even though it is not easy to break the similarity mould, there are great rewards from making it happen.

Quality vs Quantity of Ideas

The best quality ideas are most likely when there are a lot of possibilities in the mix. It is true that 10% of creators are responsible for 50% of innovations. Some individuals will come up with many more ideas than their colleagues and those who contribute the most ideas are most likely to find the most innovative solutions. Past success is often a way to produce future opportunities and the random nature of the creative process means there will be a large number of unsuccessful outcomes.

Many of the world’s most successful innovators have produced hundreds of fruitless ideas.

James Dyson

British inventor James Dyson used 5,127 prototypes before he created the cyclonic separation vacuum cleaner and he had to set up his own manufacturing company because no other producer would adopt his design. He now outsells these producers and has a world beating product. In 2002 Dyson created a realization of Escher optical illusions and in 2006 he invented a hand dryer using the Dyson Digital Motor that produces a 400mph airstream.

Tubular Bells

Richard Branson, a UK entrepreneur, wanted to set up a record label and met a teenage musician called Mike Oldfield. The result was Tubular Bells that has sold 16 million copies and still sells 100,000 each year. What is surprising is that the music was unlike any other album that came before. Oldfield developed his new form of music using the same combinations and possibilities available to other musicians but he experimented by stepping into the intersection between rock and classical music and came out with his innovative musical form.

Virgin Airlines

Branson, with his musical empire in place called for an airline ticket to get a cheap fare from London to New York. He got a busy signal and could not get through all weekend. He concluded that the company either had a poor management team or had more customers they could handle. Either way he saw an opportunity to compete, called Boeing to lease a jumbo jet for 12 months, so if it did not work out he could back out. After a couple of days finding the right manager Branson got an agreement with Boeing, so he called his business partners and asked what they thought about starting an airline. They thought he was mad, but 6 months later Virgin made its first flight from London to New York City. In 1997 Branson formed Virgin Rail and won franchises in UK for train travel.

You can read Frans’ complete book by downloading it from www.themedicieffect.com or buying it from Amazon, The Medici Effect - Frans Johnasson. My review contains only a small part of what is in the book so I would encourage you to get a copy now. You may also like to take a look at The Medici Effect blog.

Next week I will be explaining the way to reframe using NLP which is a useful tool when used in marketing and personal development. If you do not already have it please set up the RSS Feed so that you receive the latest up to date post when it is published.

This review of The Medici Effect does nothing more than scratch the surface of a very useful book. You will enjoy the way Frans presents his ideas and gives you ways to release Medici Magic In Making Intersections And Opportunities.

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