You've probably asked yourself, what does serendipity mean? But you've probably never asked yourself how you can plan for it, since that would be an oxymoron.
Thor Muller believes in planned serendipity!
If serendipity can be planned, how can a professional use it to succeed?
Thor Muller, CTO and co-founder of the firm, Get Satisfaction gave a talk, The Practice Planned Serendipity, a few years ago. The talk was a part of the Unfinished Business series at Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU). Before we dive into what Muller said during his talk, first let’s look at what serendipity means.
Origin of Serendipity
Where did serendipity come from? Horace Walpole, English art historian and politician born in the early 18th century, coined the word. Walpole who loved to write letters was also known as a man of letters.
In a letter to Thomas Mann, he said that he coined the word serendipity from the Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. In the tale, the heroes
“were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.”
This is very enlightening. And I'm thinking that if you read books across multiple disciplines, you'll make many discoveries and see what others miss. You'll have many serendipitous moments.
Have you read?
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, Review #theclassics
What Does Serendipity Mean?
As with many things, words often lose part of their meaning. Or the meaning is completely changed over a period. How Walpole used serendipity, sagacity was an important aspect of the definition. It is the:
“ability to link together apparently innocuous facts to come to a valuable conclusion.”
According to Wikipedia,
“It is a propensity for making fortunate discoveries while looking for something unrelated.”
In Muller’s talk, he indicated it occurs when chance interacts with creativity. Therefore, it’s possible to plan the conditions for serendipity to take place. This reminds me of the Samuel Goldwyn quote:
“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
Getting to Serendipity
According to Muller, there are eight ways that anyone can experience serendipity in a planned way.
Collision: Serendipity requires motion. You cannot experience it without collision. Get out there – run into more people and take part in more events. Attend a couple of events each month. And build your network on LinkedIn. Connect with me.
Preparation: Prepare your mind. And there are three ways to do so.
- Obsessive Curiosity: Learn to be curious about everything.
- Arrest an Exception: Have dogged determination. Hang on until you figure “it” out.
- Forget What you Know to be True: Nothing is sacred.
Divergence: Be ready to divert from the original plan. Take another direction. There are two ways to divert.
- Branch-out: Take a different fork in the road. Branch-out from another branch, explore the possibilities.
- Spread Seeds: Spin off new components.
Commitment: You achieve it, when you stick to it, you are unwilling to divert from your cause. You know what your mission is and you adhere to it.
My mission is to get 2,000 professionals reading a book a week and apply the knowledge.
Connection: You run into the right people because of your network of connections – because you know the right people. This is related to collision because you can make it a habit to network with your connections.
Porosity: You move the centre of gravity from within your company out to the customers and magic can happen.
Activation: We create the space for serendipity to occur. For instance, there is a certain individual that you’d like to meet, plan on how you can meet her. You could have a party and invite people who know her and encourage them to bring her along. So you create the space for serendipity to take place by having the party.
Additional Information on Serendipity
The Three Princes of Serendip, Part One
The Three Princes of Serendip and the Merchant
Final Thoughts on What Does Serendipity Mean?
Now that I have attended Thor Muller’s lecture on The Practice Planned Serendipity, I am ready to test the waters. The next natural step is to read Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business. Another important step is to read books across multiple disciplines and make the connections that others miss.
Next Steps
Wondering what to do next, you can do all of:
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Buy my new book, Leadership Reading: Spilling the Tea on How Top Leaders Read
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Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
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Join the Art of Learning Membership Site
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Download Unlock Your Genius Power Reading Tips Sheet
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Buy me a cup of coffee!
If you want access to my Bookish Notes, please consider joining my membership site, the Art of Learning.
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