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Inadequacy, the Slave Driver of Invention

By Peter Lloyd

In his seminal book on the nature of creativity The Act of Creation, polymath Arthur Koestler coined the word bisociation to describe what we less eloquently call a combination or connection of ideas. Koestler would say, "bisociation—an association between two or more previously unconnected elements."

All kinds of ideas or elements clash all the time. You're watching TV while eating popcorn. No obvious connection, that is, until you look for one. They're both—the TV and the bowl of popcorn—things you go to for pleasure or entertainment. The content of each comes to you when you "reach" into the perimeter of a kind of frame or container.

It may be raining as you munch your way through your favorite rerun, but is there a connection? Not until you think about it.

We don't look for latent connections, nor do we appreciate them, until we are urged to do so by some sort of inadequacy. Some would say necessity drives invention. But that won't help us understand why Columbus sailed beyond the western horizon. Why Einstein spent years uncovering his theories of relativity. Or why we are awakened on autumn mornings by neighbors strapped to their screeching leaf blowers.

In 1492 there was a way to get to the Far East. Understanding light and gravity could have waited. And a rake moves leaves as well as your sedentary behind.

When it's not necessity, it's inadequacy that urges us to invent, create, and discover. Knowing this may be one of the most productive secrets to successful problem solving.

In our 14-step Animal Crackers problem-solving process, Stephen Grossman and I insist on starting with an Extinction phase. That is, understanding the inadequacy of the way things are. The more clearly we understand and more firmly we believe that the present situation is inadequate, the more receptive we will be to the new ideas we generate.

Or in Koestler's terms, the better we will bisociate. That is, recognize fluently otherwise invisible connections.

Start every problem-solving effort with an Extinction phase. Convince yourself and everyone you're working with that you need a new solution. Take some time with this. Understand why each of the current solutions fail. Make sure everybody's on board. Anyone holding in reserve an affection or affiliation with "the way we've always done it" will blind him or her to bisociation and drag down your problem-solving effort.

What about a combination TV-popcorn-maker?

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.
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