An online presentation by Rebecca Gorinski for the unit Creativity and Innovation at Murdoch University (FDN101 - Semester 2, 2013). This slideshow looks at the idea that "Chance favours the connected mind" - based on the video "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Steve Johnson

1. Chance Favours The Connected
Mind
Slideshow by Rebecca Gorinski

2. Chance:
1. possibility
[uncountable and countable] how possible or
likely it is that something will happen, especially
something you want…
Definition from Longman English Dictionary Online
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/chance_1

3. Before continuing, I suggest (if you have not
already) watching “Where Good Ideas Come From”
by Steven Johnson.
The video should appear after this slide…

4. Steven Johnson’s video promotes the idea that
there aren’t as many “Eureka” moments as
people think, and what really happens is a
collision of hunches…

5. So….let’s look at the environmental factors that
can increase the chance of these great ideas
coming together….
Steven found a pattern that was repeated again
and again. What was it?

6. Steven found the pattern of the slow hunch…
Where ideas often are only one part of two, or
many more, in a final solution.
All these hunches must start out on their own,
with time to incubate over at least 2, or even
maybe up to or more than 10 or 20 years!!! (eg.
the internet).
This incubation time ensures the idea will
become successful or useful.

7. As ideas usually come from the collision of at least 2
hunches, it makes sense that we need to:
“find a way to create systems that allow these hunches to
come together and form something bigger than the sum
of their parts”. (Jonhson, 2010).
Great examples from the past are the coffee houses in
the age of enlightenment and the parisian salons of
modernism. They were very popular with creative minds.

8. With increasing ways to connect, there is a
better chance of finding the other hunch you
need to finish or enhance the idea you are
working on.
These days there is more of a trend of
connecting using the internet, which while
sometimes has been viewed as a hinderance, is
actually a very fruitful resource. The internet is
one way you might be able to find that other
hunch.

9. A practical example….

10. Imagine I divided a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle between a class of 20
students. Each student would end up with 5 pieces. Think of these
ideas as hunches.
There is a chance that one person alone would be able to connect at
least two of there pieces (“Eureka!”)
……however, it is much more likely that each student would have to
connect with many other students to be able to find matches for their
own pieces. (slow hunch).
There is also a possibility that if a student did not connect with every
other student in the class, some pieces would go without being
matched up…Imagine all the creations or innovations that haven’t
been achieved because they haven’t been connected enough?
Because they haven’t met their match…?

11. Real life examples….
I’m sure you have all heard of Steve Jobs, yes – the Apple man.
But did you know, Jobs dropped out of college due to the
expense….however, he stayed on campus, sleeping on the floor
of a friend’s dorm room.
While he was there, Jobs started dropping in on some creative
classes. One of these classes was calligraphy.
Where did this lead?

12. +
=
Computer
fonts!!

13. Steve Jobs himself said:
"If I had never dropped in on that single
calligraphy course in college, the Mac would
have never had multiple typefaces or
proportionally spaced fonts.“ (Jobs, 2005).

14. Just to recap…
• Eureka moments are possible, but less likely…
• Slow hunches are more common, where an idea may lay dormant for
years, until it collides with another hunch that combines the hunch into
something much bigger than its individual parts..
• So, connecting is the key!! Allowing ideas to mingle, swap and create new
forms.
• The internet is a big part of connecting with others.
• WHEN YOU ARE CONNECTED, YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE CREATIVE AS
YOUR HUNCHES CAN MEET OTHER HUNCHES AND GROW INTO
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED, UNPLANNED, AND EXCEPTIONAL!!!!

15. Want to be creative?
Want better ideas?
Get connected!!!
Because chance favours the connected mind!

16. References
Jobs, S. 2005. “'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says”.
http://archive.is/20120711235417/http://newsservice.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs061505.html
Johnson, S. 2010. “Where Good Ideas Come From”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU
Longman English Dictionary Online
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/chance_1