When do unexpected insights come from?

Archimedes called them ‘Eureka Moments’, Gary Kein describes them as ‘Lightbulb Moments’, and the polymath Henri Poincaré refers to them as moments of “Sudden Illumination”. In this article, I explore breakthough insights, introducing Gary Klein’s model for Lightbulb Moments.

Breakthrough insights are unexpected and often serendipitous, but they have to come from somewhere. One of the most influential writers on my learning has been Dr Gary Klein. In his 2017 book ‘Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights’ Klein describes different path to insights. He highlights the power of creating distance and reflection, the importance of challenging assumptions that trap how we maybe viewing a problem, and identifying contradictions in the information we have at hand.

Klein calls these flashes of inspiration as ‘Lightbulb Moments’ i.e. unexpected discoveries into how things work or how to make them better. The key point is these sudden flashes of inspiration are unexpected and in the subconscious. They also often occur without warning and when we least expect them, perhaps when our minds are considering something entirely different. Much breakthrough insight is subconscious and is difficult to ‘mechanise’. We cannot write a procedure for this and breakthrough insights often do not occur within Innovation Workshops and Creative Thinking meetings.

Based on 120 case studies, Klien produced the Triple Path Model of Insight. The model outlines three pathways that represent how breakthrough insights and Eureka moments arise. Each pathway is formed of a ‘Trigger’, an Activity and the Outcome i.e. a breakthrough in thinking. See the image below.

The Connection Path

The Connection Path is the most common method of having breakthrough insight and involves connecting two pieces of information we had not previously linked. Connections lead to revelations. He provides the example of Charles Darwin reading Malthus’ book describing the competition for scarce resources and this triggered Darwin to see the survival of the fittest was the link to Darwin's emerging thinking of species evolution. The Connection Pathway is thus about bringing ideas together. The insight occurs when we spot the connects, coincidence and follow our curiosity. ?

The Creative Desperation Path

Creative Desperation Path is where we are stuck on a problem. This prompts self-reflection and questioning on the assumptions and constraints that are limiting how we are considering a problem. Once these unconscious assumptions are challenged, the metaphorical 'space' is created to re-examine the problem and Hey Presto, the epiphany occurs. Gay Klein cites the example of Wagner Dodge in the Mann Gulch fire who, realising he could not outrun a wildfire, burnt the grass ahead of him to remove the fuel, and then jumped into the ashes. In creative desperation for his live, Dodge realised that the fire can be his friend, and famously created an Mann Gulch escape fire. The Creative Desperation pathway thus involves recognising assumptions, biases and beliefs that are framing and constraining how we are currently approaching the problem. The insight occurs when we escape the impasse in our thinking.

The Contradiction Path

The Contradiction Path is where our existing insights do not make sense. We encounter new information that does not fit our prior beliefs and assumptions about a problem. Recognising that something is wrong and ‘seeing’ the contradictions leads to a mental breakthrough. Klein cites the example from law enforcement where a police officer observes a driver in an expensive car flicking cigarette ash on the floor of the car. Questioning in his mind why someone in a new and expensive car would dispose of cigarette ash with such car, the policeman stops the driver to subsequently discover the vehicle is stollen. Contradiction Path strike me as drawing on tacit knowledge i.e. the experience and knowledge we cannot formalise and that comes through experiance. Most of us encounter new information that does not fit our prior beliefs frequently, but we dismiss it by explaining it away and revert to our prior beliefs. The contradiction pathway is thus about identifying ideas that do not fit together.

Creating Space for Lightbulb Moments

Creating distance from the problem is said to help with creative insights, where problems are solved in a single moment or radical changes of mind. Archimedes’ famous Eureka moment came in the bath. For Darwin it was reading something somewhat unrelated to his area of research. The French polymath Henri Poincaré experienced “Sudden Illumination” by walking. For Watson and Crick, the double helix breakthrough was said to have occurred over a beer in a pub. For others, insights really do occur in the subconscious, when asleep. Thomas Edison famously thought hypnagogia, that period between concious and sleep was a highly creative period. Paul McCartney famously dreamt the song 'Yesterday' and awoke with the song fully formed in his head. For several weeks McCartney could not believe the song had not already been recorded. And as for Isaac Newton, well he allegedly discovered gravity when resting under a tree and his head was struck on by an apple.

Finally, returning to Dr Gary Klien’s Triple Path Model of Insight, here is a nice video in which he explains the three pathways model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5OO9L67jL4. In the latter section of the recording, he explains the way we can integrate the model within our everyday work.

So how do you create space in your thinking for creative insights? Where do you find insights best emerge?

References

If you are interested in learning more, here are useful sources about this model:

?? Gary Klein, ‘Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights’. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/16043549

?? More information about Gary Klein’s Tripple Path model can be found here: https://fs.blog/the-remarkable-ways-we-gain-insights/

?? More about Henri Poincaré’s “Sudden Illumination” here:https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/08/15/henri-poincare-on-how-creativity-works/#:~:text=During%20the%20first%20half%2Dhour,mind%20its%20force%20and%20freshness.

?? More about the influence of Malthus on Darwin here: https://www.americanscientist.org/article/1798-darwin-and-malthus