Associations Creating Inspiration

What makes innovators different?

Carmine Gallo, author of The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs, gives readers an inside look into the inner workings of one of the most influential innovators of the 20th century. “According to the Harvard research, the number one skill that separates innovators from noncreative professionals is ‘associating’: the ability to successfully connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems or ideas from different fields.”

Where do these associations/innovations come from?

I would bet that many people, myself included until I read this book, think that Steve Jobs had all of his “AHA” moments while sitting alone pondering what he was going to come up with next. Through reading this book, I realized that those brilliant ideas came from the world around him, the world not at all associated with his computers.

Ever wonder how he came up with the idea for the magnetic computer charger? Believe it or not, he did not imagine it while laying on his bed late at night because he wasn’t able to sleep. He got the idea from rice cookers. Yes, you did read that correctly: Jobs got the idea for the magnetic computer charger from Japanese rice cookers. For many years, Japanese rice cooker had utilized the magnetic power cord to prevent the dreaded scenario of tripping over the cord and bringing the rice cooker crashing down to the floor and burning someone. Jobs learned about this brilliant idea and associated the world of rice cookers to his world of computers.

Gallo tells readers “that one reason behind Job’s ability to generate idea after idea is that…’he has spent a lifetime exploring new and unrelated things – the art of calligraphy, meditation practices in an Indian ashram, the fine details of a Mercedes-Benz.'”

This anecdote about Jobs impressed upon me the importance of a broad range of life experiences to a successful innovator. Going forward, I would like to practice this type of association across all areas of my life so that I have a better chance to find big ideas in small places.

Sam Calagione’s Quest for Innovation

Sam Calagione, founder of Doghead FIsh Craft Brewery, applies the same association rule when it comes to furthering his own business. In Calagione’s book, Brewing Up a Business, he tells the story about what inspired his bottle design.

Sam studied the way that high class wineries design their bottles. He incorporated the ideas of shape, quality label paper, label content, and different bottle caps. By adding these distinct features, he has differentiated his product from larger corporate breweries, and Dogfish Head now has a reputation as a high class brewing company.

Wright Brother’s Passion Mechanics Lead to Airplanes

The Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk is a perfect image of passion leading to innovation.

Only a decade earlier, they were two young men living in Ohio who had an interest in mechanics and a passion for the idea of flight. While designing and repairing bicycles, they attained the mechanical proficiency which would later propel them to inventing an airplane. Without their interest for the nuts and bolts of how things work, they would have never been anything more than bicycle salesman.

“Creativity is just connecting things.” – Steve Jobs