A Primer on the Creation of the New

WHAT’S YOUR CREATIVE STIMULUS?

Innovation has been turned into a spectator sport. Any media company that presents the audience with the shiny result of innovation – the story of the successful innovator – can be sure to generate fine clicks.

But what about the process of how new things come about?  The road to innovation is a rough one. If we look under the hood, what we see remains mostly messy and blurred. In fact, one core element of the creation of the new is a disruption of our habits and routines, an external stimulus if you will. This is quite chaotic and stands in contrast to the shiny results that we so frequently can read about.

What’s behind this process? And how do you balance chaos with order? How do you fare when it comes to making use of external stimuli?