Author Steven Johnson spoke Friday night in Portland.
Consider innovation and many of us picture somebody with a lightbulb floating overhead or the “Eureka!” moment.
Truth be told, however, most innovation occurs over much longer periods, incubating “slow hunches” on the way to great leaps forward.
Author Steven Johnson shared insights on innovation Friday night at Portland’s Bagdad Theatre during an event linked to Wordstock and sponsored by Powell’s Books. Johnson spoke on the heels of the release of his new book, “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation.” Johnson’s other books include “Everything Bad Is Good For You,” “The Ghost Map” and “The Invention of Air.”
With his casual humor, Johnson presented a series of case studies that demonstrate how new ideas percolate into change and societal shifts. And no better forum exists to stimulate ideas than the coffee house, whether it’s the actual meeting place or a virtual site for exchanging great notions. (Update: Here’s Johnson’s TED speech on the topic.)
Johnson described the coffeehouse as an “amazing engine of innovation” — a “connected space” where people can riff on politics, science, religion and other topics, fueled perhaps by too much coffee.
While we typically think of famous innovators and their breakthrough moments — e.g. Darwin, Gutenberg, Newton — the reality is that they developed their revolutionary processes over time, often in collaboration with other innovators of their day.
Johnson noted that one of the common traits among innovators is that they typically don’t hang out with folks just like themselves. Rather, they form friendships with people with very different ideas, stimulating the clash of intellects and remixing that leads to new thinking.
Johnson advocates “open, connected platforms of innovation,” and noted that many of the strict protections on intellectual property may actually be hindering the creative process. These restrictions, which he called an “innovation tax,” often erect walls around new ideas.
Meanwhile, Johnson lauded companies such as Google and IBM, which encourage employees to spend chunks of work time “cultivating hunches” that could lead to the next big thing. Perhaps, he joked at one point, organizations ought to improve at institutionalizing productive “dinking around.”
Asked about applying innovation strategies in education, Johnson talked about the benefits of multidisciplinary studies and engaging students in problem-solving activities, even creating game-like environments that enhance links between subjects.
“People find these kind of things more interesting,” he said.
Note: Look for Johnson’s the talk to show up sometime soon on C-SPAN, which taped the event.