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expand your possiblities

As I explore more about innovation I realize that I need to expand my brain. Innovation is very dependent on the amount of “stuff” that you know or are exposed to. When you have lots of exposure to new information your brain can start to put things together. Often it is this combination of seemingly very different things that creates a break-through innovation.

I am currently traveling and decided that I need to push myself out of my comfort zone. I have promised myself to do at least one unique and different thing in each of the cities I am visiting. So in this modern day, I felt like the best way to figure out a different thing to do was to of, course, googled it.

My search brought me to some great ideas for new and different things to do around Paris. The most intriguing by far was the suggestion of going to a super club. I quickly requested an invite from Jimmy Haynes, an American born, 80-year-old writer, theatre guru, and dinner host. Jimmy was amazing and quickly responded with a resounding yes, that I could attend. So my new and different adventure was set.

I arrived promptly on time with about 50 other selected guests. From that point forward what happened was magical. The guests ranged from college students studying abroad, to French bachelors, street jazz musicians, professors, cancer researchers, social scientists, data analysts, a gentleman studying the effects the internet is having on the intellectual café culture in Paris, and the list goes on. Everyone there attended with the intent on meeting others, having great conversation, and learning.

What made this so magical…

Adjacent Possibilities. This is a term that I recently learned through reading the book by author, Scott Johnson, “Where Good Ideas Come From.”

Adjacent Possibilities are about realizing a tipping point where enough ideas come together that the possible combination of these ideas creates an explosion of innovation. These ideas are the building blocks, much like the nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA. With enough differently blocks anything is possible, it allows for almost limitless exploration and growth.

Last night my goal was to talk to as many interesting people as possible to increase the building blocks that I have.

I was able to have amazing conversations. In fact after the dinner ended many of us didn’t want the conversation to end, so we went to a Paris café for intellectual conversations. Yes, of course the gentleman studying about the intellectual cafe’s of Paris came along. It was fun to be part of his experiment.

I learned about the impact of unions on the salaries of workers. I learned about the struggles of independent cancer researchers. I learned about how street musicians choose their time and place to perform. I learned the dreams of many people and how they want to change the world.

I learned, I learned, and I learned.

I came home much too late, with my head full of ideas. I am not yet sure what these building blocks will produce. For the moment what the ideas produce is less important than the energy that is harnessed within this new knowledge. What I am sure of is, they will be catalysts and building blocks that fuel future innovations.

I am off to London next.

Please share any and all ideas you have for learning/doing something different in London or any other great place around the world.

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