Serendipity & Breakthroughs

In 2006, Jorge Odon learned a very common party trick. With help from a YouTube video, Odon won a bet and successfully extracted a cork from within a wine bottle without breaking the glass. This is not a groundbreaking achievement, but later that night Odon had a surge of inspiration that would change his life. Odon believed this party trick held engineering secrets that could help in safely delivering babies from the birth canal. For many years, forceps have been used but Odon believed there was a safer way. It is important to note, Jorge is not an obstetrician or MD. He is a professional automotive mechanic. 

Since his serendipitous idea in 2006, Odon has been on an amazing journey that has taken him from his garage in Argentina to the World Health Organization and a licensed manufacturing deal with Becton Dickinson (BD). What started as a crude prototype using a glass jar, his daughter's baby doll, and a fabric bag has now been transformed into a serious medical invention called the Odon Device. As of 2018, over 40 babies have been delivered using the device in clinical studies.

Jorge Odon’s story is a shining example of how many breakthrough innovations and strategies emerge through a series of unplanned events rather than well-prepared powerpoint presentations. These breakthroughs are serendipity in action and the world of business disruption is full of these stories.  Harnessing the power of serendipity and the idea of emergence is a nebulous pill to swallow for those classically trained in business strategy. However, it could be the key to business survival. Deliberate strategic planning is never to be thrown out, but adding a healthy dose of strategic serendipity can provide a strong advantage in an ever-changing competitive landscape. 

Serendipity in business is analogous to the concept of “emergent strategy” . Henry Mintzberg , one of the world’s premier management thinkers and researchers, describes this form of strategy in his paper “Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent”.  According to Mintzberg,

"Emergent Strategy itself implies learning what works – taking one action at a time in search for that viable pattern or consistency. It is important to remember that emergent strategy means, not chaos, but, in essence, unintended order."

If we reflect on the example of Jorge Odon, we find the production of a new medical device was an unintended outcome of watching a party trick on YouTube. 

So how can we facilitate serendipity within organizations and tap into the power of emergent strategy? Below are three principles that you can apply to ramp up the chance of serendipity enhancing your strategy and innovation efforts:

1. Rack Up More Views

Most learning and emergent strategies come from observing and viewing the world around you. It is through observation that we stimulate ideas, define problems to solve, and uncover hidden trends in customer needs. For Odon, it was viewing a YouTube video that sparked a new connection in his mind. For Isaac Newton, it was observing an apple fall to the ground that prompted his exploration of gravity. William Wrigley noticed patterns in customer responses to his free promotions and pivoted his business strategy from selling soap to selling chewing gum. Who hasn’t tried Juicy Fruit or Wrigley’s Spearmint gum? 

2. Know A Guy "Who Knows A Guy"

Great ideas fail to be implemented and executed all the time. The difference is in how you diffuse an idea through a network that will provide the right amount of energy, resources, and support to drive it forward. It is safe to assume Jorge Odon’s work connections may have been primarily other automotive professionals. Yet, he activated his broader friend and family network that was serendipitously connected to obstetricians and key contacts within the World Health Organization. The rest is history in the making. In his book Adaptive Space, Michael Arena writes about innovation, disruptive strategy and the critical importance of leveraging networks. Arena explains,

“Brokers introduce ideas, connectors develop them, but energizers spread them. Energizers trigger the interest of others and unleash the passion necessary for bold solutions to advance.”

3.  Listen To The Mechanic

The beautiful part about Jorge Odon’s story was that he was listened to. The connections around him had an open ear and heart to engage someone with a diverse background and professional experience. So often, serendipity and positive emergent strategy is quenched because we are isolated in our own expertise and functional roles. It took a mechanic to view the problem differently. Breakthrough strategies and innovation can come from anywhere if a rapid flow of information and feedback from diverse sources is nurtured. From employee crowd sourcing to cross-functional design teams, listening to others with a different viewpoint can generate profound results. In a panel discussion for the 2006 EBay Developers Conference, Scott Cook, founder of Intuit said,

“You need to create an environment where the customers, where your users, where your employees are figuring out what the business should be…the right answers will emerge from the community.”

Over twelve years later, I believe this still holds true.

So where will your next innovation or strategic competitive advantage come from? Will it be found in a formalized strategic plan? Or will it come from embracing and facilitating strategic serendipity? I guess we will have to wait and see what emerges.