The Medici Effect

The Medici's were a very influential family empire in Florence from the 1300s to the 1600s. An amazing number of scientific discoveries were made during their era - Leonard Da Vinci being one of the most famous and influential of the discoverers. The accepted theory for why this era was so productive is that the culture was very open and cross disciplinarian. That again made innovation more plausible.

The Medici Effect [1] is a book that looks at the innovation from such inhomogeneous processes and how you can accelerate the process. The main thesis of the book is very much in line with what the notes on this blog is about : Innovation comes nowadays from the intersection between disciplines. You take ideas and concepts from different disciplines and combine them into new concepts.

The big question is how you or an organization can step into this intersection. According to the book there are 3 key elements that are important driving factors:

1. By diversifying occupations.
2. By interacting with diverse groups of people.
3. By going intersection hunting.

1 and 2 are fairly obvious. Being in a culture of diversification, curiosity and open mindedness are key factors for innovation. 3 is mostly based in the idea of creating directed randomness in your thought process. One method is to go for a stroll and purchase or pick up objects that are not related to your current problem. Look at these and let your thought roll.

I won't say that the book is very revolutionary, and the fact of the matter is that you need to have a mind that is creative and curious in order to create this effect. Most ideas are created/formulated by a few people compared to the population. These few people make up many ideas - many which never make the test of reality. Still, the thesis of the book is important to remember, so if you want to create an innovative culture it would not be so silly to study the Medici's.

[1] Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation