Boundary Crosser

Boundary Crosser in Action: Julio Ottino, watch these videos for an nice summary of what boundary crossers can see that others can't see, http://bit.ly/mOrf2f

Got a kick out of this article on engineering students mixing it up with the arts: http://bit.ly/qVryTf . Five years ago, I suggested to the Dean of Engineering at Northwestern that engineering students could benefit from taking classes in the theatre dept. I guess timing is everything...

Why America Needs More Immigrants

In this Wall Street Journal article, the author makes the case for why educated professionals who come from other countries (yes, these definitely would be boundary crossers) help keep our economy healthy. Photo by ElvertBarnes.

Key points:

• Immigrants make up a larger percentage, proportionally, of patents and co-founders of Silicon Valley companies.
• Foreign students are awarded 60% of all doctorate engineering degrees.
• According to the Department of Labor, those involved in science and engineering fields are responsible for more than 50% of sustained economic expansion.  

What's new (and scary): In a new study, researchers found that a majority of American-trained entrepreneurs who have returned to India and China believe they are doing better at "home" than they would be doing in the US.  America is no longer seen as the land of opportunity as it was in years past.

Notable and Quotable from an Engineer/Artist

Love this quote from Julio Ottino, Dean of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University:

"I believe that finding new things requires a prepared mind, and a prepared mind is being aware, consciously or not, of surroundings.  The most spectacular ideas happen when someone sees connections between two different fields that no one saw as connected before."

I think Ottino speaks from experience.  Ottino was a working artist in Argentina (I've seen some of his work hanging in his current office) before moving to the US to get his PhD in chemical engineering.  Innovation happens at the edges, not in the center.

Here's a short video of Dean Ottino, talking about some of his ideas that are grounded in multi-disciplinary thinking:

 

If that teaser makes you want to see more, you can see his complete presentation, titled, Thinking in a Complex World: The Nexus of Art, Science, and Technology.  

I only wish that Dean Ottino had been at Northwestern when I attended many years ago. It's fun to see the impact that a boundary crosser can have on an institution.  In the last ten years, he's had a hand in creating centers at Northwestern related to design, entrepreneurship, sustainability and complex systems. 

Great HBR article on when it comes to your network, bigger is not better. Instead, *bridging* is better. http://bit.ly/qYOBkK

Another great example of a boundary crosser, from the worlds of science and art: ScriptPhD.com. One of the most interesting blogs I've seen in a long time, written by a fellow Northwestern alumna.

Here's a great example of boundary crossing at work, where researchers are making the connection between the relationships of bees and plants and the relationship between suppliers and buyers in the garment industry: http://bit.ly/qVZZHb

Where Good Ideas Come From: Boundary Crossers!

I'm being a bit flip with the title of Steven Johnson's newest book, Where Good Ideas Come From.  Honestly, I loved the book.  Here's what I wrote about the book, using the Reading List application on LinkedIn:

"I love this book, as it validates the value of boundary crossing--being immersed in more than one world. Johnson provides example after example of how moving between multiple worlds helps to cross-pollinate ideas, resulting in innovation. It was also fun to see a term that a physics major turned opera singer friend (a boundary crosser if I ever met one!) told me about many years ago--the adjacent possible.

Johnson lays out a set of environmental characteristics where innovation thrives and ends with a tidy model that refutes the popular notion of a lone genius, working in isolation, to come up with the next big thing. Instead, he advocates the type of open-source, crowdsourcing approach that has become so viable with social media and the Internet.

This book is a fast read that will inject some fresh thinking into your work, no matter what your discipline."

Okay, if you can stand to put another book on your reading list, here's another one I recently recommended on my LinkedIn profile, Superconnect by Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood. 

My comments:

"Fabulous book that covers concepts related to networking, business growth, and the spread of ideas. Sort of what you would get if you combined the writing styles of Malcolm Gladwell with Chip and Dan Heath with Keith Ferrazzi. Thoroughly enjoyable."

One of most fascinating ideas from this book is the concept of connectors between hubs--like boundary crossers--who are the pipeline to opportunity.  These people serve a valuable role, by connecting worlds that otherwise would be isolated.  

Dang it, I love being a boundary crosser! How about you?

PS. My long absence on this blog is no indication of my love for boundary crossing.  It's just that my ideas on boundary crossing have new outlets for sharing (like the Reading List on LinkedIn.) So if you find yourself hungry for a new post here, reach out to me, carol [at] carolrossandassociates [dot] com and nudge me along.  Or follow me on Twitter (@carolross)  and direct message me.

Personality Poker: A Case Study in Boundary Crossing

Personality Poker is a different kind of assessment tool for capturing one's personality quickly.  It's also a great example of the collision of multiple worlds: personality assessments, Formula One racing, and Las Vegas poker. Think I'm a bit crazy?  See for yourself.  Read the story of how it was developed.

Key take-aways from this wonderful example of boundary crossing:

•  Boundary crossing doesn't happen without a fair amount of curiosity and imagination.   The developer of Personality Poker, Stephen Shapiro had to be curious enough to wonder what would happen if innovation teams worked as efficiently and predictably as the pit crews who service race cars.  That is, he had to imagine the collision of two worlds. This gave him the characteristics of optimal teams that he could then develop an assessment for.  Photo by Juliana Coutinho.

• Applying one concept in one world to another requires field tested to really make it useful.  This is where boundary crossing and entrepreneurship are synergistic.  With both, you have to be willing to try stuff out, learn from the failures, and apply new knowledge to the next iteration.  Shapiro noticed that filling out an assessment was boring for people, no matter how accurate or useful the results of the assessment.  This drove him to create the next iteration of the assessment using the playing card metaphor. 

• The trigger for boundary crossing is observation and awareness, stepping back to see a framework for doing things in one world and noticing how great, effective, remarkable, useful that way is in that world.  Without the initial observation, there is no transferring the concept to another world. How many of us go through life sleep walking and not seeing a solution right in front of us?  Shapiro took his experience with playing blackjack in Las Vegas to create a useful metaphor for his personality assessment.

Many thanks to @robinjpearson for pointing me to the story of Personality Poker.  It's a winner!

Bricolage and the Adjacent Possible

Innovation, rather than cut from whole cloth, often comes from re-arranging existing pieces into a new configuration.  So says science writer,  Steven Johnson, in this Wall Street Journal article,  The Genius of the Tinkerer.

This quote from Johnson says it all:

[I]deas are works of bricolage.  They are, almost inevitably, networks of other ideas.  We take the ideas we've inherited or stumbled across, and we jigger them together into some new shape.

Ever since I read the creativity book, Free Play, several years ago, I've loved the concept of bricolage--making something new strictly from what you already have, and no more.  Think left overs in the fridge transforming into a magnificent dinner, unrecognizable from the previous three meals. There's an art to being creative under constrained circumstances. 

Johnson also introduces scientist Stuart Kauffman's concept of "the adjacent possible." Several years ago, a friend, who is both a trained physicist and an accomplished musician talked about this same concept.  While I don't claim to fully understand the scientific nuances of "the adjacent possible,"  with regard to innovation, it says that our perception of what's possible is just one step away from what already exists. But as soon as we take that step, a new set of possibilities emerges.  Pretty soon, after lots of steps, a whole new world has opened up.  (BTW--this is my view of entrepreneurship.  It's not until I take the first step that it leads me to something else. After a few more steps, I've ended up in a place I could never have planned for.)

Underlying all of this is a role for boundary crossers.  We are more likely to run into the bits and pieces of bricolage that can turn into something new.  And as we travel among multiple worlds, our perception of the "adjacent possible" expands faster and further. 

Steve Johnson has a new book coming out in Oct 2010, called "Where Good Ideas Come From."  This video beautifully explains his ideas, better than I could ever do: