Chapter Seven. Einstein’s Game of Connecting the Dots
How is it that some people come up with such creative ideas while others fall flat? Imagine if you could ask Einstein his thoughts. He might respond by saying, “The secret to creativity is what I call ‘combinatory play.’” Einstein often explained that this was the cornerstone of all that he did. Einstein based his scientific method on the approach of playfully combining unrelated thoughts, topics, and disciplines to create new ideas. The most famous example of this was his combination of energy, mass, and the speed of light (E=mc2), which gave us the ability to understand the universe in a new way. But it doesn’t take a genius to know that combination is the secret to good ideas. We all take part in this type of creativity on a daily basis when we decide what combination of clothes to wear or what spread to put on our toast.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his landmark book Creativity, explains that creative breakthroughs come from linking information that is not usually thought to be related. Think of this as like putting peanut butter and jelly on a slice of bread. Peanuts and berries aren’t related but work well when they are linked. This is the secret of some of the most creative minds of all time. It sounds too simple to be true, but an essential aspect of creativity is connecting the dots.
The World’s Worst Computer Name
“Executec” was almost one of the most successful computer companies in the world. But the founders didn’t like that name so they thought about “Personal Computers Inc.” instead. Fortunately, neither of those names stuck. They needed something that took the geeky computer edge off. They wanted something that was unintimidating and more down to earth. One of the founders was on a fruitarian diet and had just returned from working on a Gravenstein apple farm in Oregon. He liked apples and thought the name Apple sounded fun. Today, it’s impossible to imagine the company named anything else. Could you imagine owning an Executec iPad? It just doesn’t have the same ring.
Steve Jobs said, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” Jobs is famous for inventing the new, but his inventions always came from somewhere else. Jobs’s talent lay not in conjuring up ideas from thin air but from combining unlikely ideas into something that made sense.
Inventor or Sponge? You Decide
The story of the invention of the light bulb is the same. The invention is attributed to Thomas Edison having a moment of insight and success. Yet even Edison, who was a master of marketing and spin, deferred this idea and said, “Innovation is ninety-nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration.” The innovation of the light bulb took years and was the accumulation of connecting many small dots. Even when it did finally work, it didn’t work that well—it could only burn for five minutes. So when they invited the press to come take a look, they only let them stay for three or four minutes before it went dark. When asked how long the bulbs would last, Edison said, “Forever, almost.”
In his book about innovation, Steven Johnson said, “There was no light bulb moment in the story of the light bulb.” Even Edison described himself as “Less of an innovator and more of a sponge.” Just as with Steve Jobs, who didn’t invent the iPod but made it widespread, Edison didn’t invent the light bulb but came up with a light bulb that was a commercial success. Edison absorbed ideas and built a team with complementary skills. This, and perspiration, was the secret of his success.
Becoming a master at combinatory play requires letting down your guard. Most of us have become too serious to consider our work as play. Imagine if you were starting a computer company today, would you consider naming it after fruit or something else that you liked? Why not? And it’s not just the name but also how we think about the thing itself. Steve Jobs thought of computing in an atypical way. In an era when computers were the domain of geeks, he considered computers “the equivalent of a bicycle for the mind.” Such comparisons—apples and bikes—aren’t perfect, but when you are just playing that’s OK. When we play, we engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose. When we play we relax, and this state can allow for synapses to form. Let’s try it for ourselves.
Down at the beach one day, I asked a friend to hold a red umbrella over his head so I could capture a photograph. A gust of wind blew the umbrella out of his hand and it fell into the sea. The accident became one of the best shots of the day (it’s the image in the previous spread). When you play, you discover what you may have otherwise overlooked.
STEP 1
Choose a creative practice you enjoy (drawing, writing, playing piano, creating photographs, cooking desserts, and so on), and veer from your normal routine and try out some crazy ideas. Play the piano with your eyes closed, shoot some photographs using silly props, and so on. Most importantly, stop worrying about the results and cut yourself some slack. Stop stifling the creative process with such a strong grip. As the poet Sharon Olds puts it, “When we give our pen some free will we may surprise ourselves.”
STEP 2
After you have finished the task, reflect on using a more open approach. How did you feel?
What were the results? Were you more or less effective? What might you try next?
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