“Creativity is Just Connected Things”

By way of Steve Jobs, this thought from Maria Popova in Smithsonian Magazine goes to the heart of innovation.

“Creativity is just connected things:”

Celebrated creators – artists, writers, scientists, inventors – have always known the power of the synthesizing mind and have advocated for embracing the building blocks of combinatorial creativity. ‘Stuff your head with more different things from various fields,’ Ray Bradbury encouraged students in a 2001 address. ‘You should stay alert for the moment when a number of things are just ready to collide with one another,’ Brian Eno advised. ‘Creativity is just connecting things,’ Steve Jobs proclaimed. ‘Science,’ Darwin recognized, ‘consists in grouping facts so that general laws or conclusions may be drawn from them.’ ‘Substantially all ideas are second-hand,’ Mark Twain observed, ‘consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily use by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them.’”

The Kentucky Innovation Network is the presenting sponsor of the IdeaFestival, which happens in Louisville Sept. 29 – Oct. 2. Like Maria Popova and the figures she quotes above, the festival recognizes that innovation is nothing more than a keen eye and an ability to think wide, to connect the unconnected. Should you attend the festival,  you will meet many accomplished people, hear from leaders in their respective fields – each of whom will share stories of failure and triumph – and encounter other “idealists.”

They are entrepreneurs all.

We’d love to see you there!