From time-2-time innovative ideas appear to come completely out of left field, or to be brand new. Creative ideas so unique they appear to be woven together out of thinking that didn’t previously exist. But rarely is this truly the case.
Innovative ideas most often come about because the artist has managed 2 piece together elements of a puzzle others haven’t. Like when Kral Benz pieced 2gether the combustion engine, and the wheel to create the automobile. That’s why it’s so important 2 have deep domain knowledge.
Another example is how Marvel wove 2gether elements of the classic 50’s sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show 2 create the innovative series Wanda Vision.
Outside of Princes’ home office is a custom landscape mural (wish I had a pic, but there’s no picture taking allowed there). As you look at it in the center is Prince. 2 his left are images of artists who influenced him like Earth, Wind, and Fire, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and George Clinton. 2 his left are images of artists he influenced like The Time, Sheila E., and Vanity 6. What Prince understood was that his musical genius at no time was brand new, that his innovative spirit didn’t come out of nowhere. He’d pieced it 2gether from elements he’d gotten from the geniuses b4 him, and he himself had become a piece of the puzzle for those after him.
If you watch interviews of three of the most innovative comedic geniuses Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, and Dave Chapelle you’ll notice that they have something in common beyond the wonderment and curiosity about the artist that came before them. It’s that they are acutely aware of industry, politics, and the world appositionally. Checkout Seinfeld’s Netflix series Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee for a brilliant example of this.
So where do innovative ideas come from? They come from appositional awareness which allows the creative to take the pieces of the puzzle spread across the table, and assemble them N2 something that appears 2 us 2b brand new.
