DA VINCI’S CODE — CREATIVE LESSONS FROM THE RENAISSANCE & HOW TO USE THEM
“The renaissance ushered in an era of unleashed human potential, producing a slew of technological, artistic and cultural achievements.”
“It was an age in which invention and innovation could flourish.”
“Highly-talented people from the worlds of art, education and science had the opportunity to cross-pollinate ideas and insights.”
So writes Rowan Gibson in The 4 Lenses of Innovation, a book that nicely distils the four key lessons from the most transformative age in human history — the Renaissance. What happened in this period paved the way for the technological advances and lifestyle we enjoy today, and set us off on a journey of extraordinary human thinking and doing.
When we think of the Renaissance we think of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Machiavelli, Martin Luther, Descartes… (Clearly this is not an exhaustive list).
So why are these people still household names today? What did they all have in common?
What are the 4 Lenses — the four key innovation lessons from this age?
· Challenging Orthodoxies
· Harnessing Trends
· Leveraging Resources
· Understanding Needs
1 CHALLENGING ORTHODOXIES
This was the first era in which the primacy of the church and religion was really challenged. Up to this point society was run by those entrusted (largely by themselves) as the gatekeepers of religion — and more importantly, they were the ones who had always determined the future.
Whilst the Catholic Church embraced art and indeed helped fund it — Michelangelo, Raphael — Martin Luther was so appalled by the use of Catholicism as a means to maintain power over the masses that he started the Protestant movement.
LESSON:
Companies can fall into the trap of mimicking successful competitors, or believing that every major innovation in their field has been discovered.
But it’s very possible that the received wisdom of your industry is outdated, no longer suitable and in urgent need of a rethink.
2 HARNESSING TRENDS
It’s crystal ball time…
…and ear to the ground time.
The Renaissance was a period of significant human expression with information disseminating in a way not seen before. These new ideas made challenging orthodoxies a lot easier.
LESSON:
Can you see the patterns that are emerging in terms of behaviour, social structure & technology that could provide the impetus for a great future idea?
What movements are bubbling away already that you could utilise for future business growth?
What are the shifts in mindsets that can lead to a major new insight?
3 LEVERAGING RESOURCES
The Renaissance’s fertile exchange of ideas, trends and new thought meant a lot of expertise could be harnessed, repurposed and recombined to create new designs and thinking. There are many examples of this, but one of the most important ones from this period is the Printing Press.
Johannes Gutenberg utilised skills he already had from being a goldsmith, modified them, threw in a few more skills he had acquired — and a fair bit of natural mental agility — to create this ground-breaking and life-changing device. The way we could record and disseminate ideas was changed forever. Our iPhone keypads are still based on this invention. Without it, our world would not exist.
LESSON:
How can you utilise existing skills and assets in new ways?
Moreover, how can you repurpose your knowledge and prior experience to create something new?
CHECK OUT HOW THE WINE PRESS, THE DYSON & POST-IT-NOTES were all formulated by leveraging resources.
4 UNDERSTANDING NEEDS
With new ideas and philosophies alongside an increased confidence to challenge orthodoxy, came new opportunities — and desires to be addressed. Society was changing, reordering, and this meant new innovation was required.
LESSON:
What are society’s/the market’s needs and frustrations that have yet to be addressed?
Is there a deep issue that no other product or service solves?
The key is finding out what these needs are, working through them, and finally, coming up with the solution. This could very well be something of a trial and error phase. This is all about accepting the odd failure (and seeing it as a stepping stone to the Promised Land) married to an insatiable desire to learn, discover and demonstrate.
WHY NOT USE THE IDEAFLIP SILENT BRAINSTORM PLATFORM TO GENERATE IDEAS WITH THE 4 LENSES?
Da Vinci’s methods. Democratised.
WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THESE FOUR FACTORS it’s pretty clear that most innovations, new products, breakthrough services & solutions are a combination of all four lessons. They are not discreet — they overlap.
For example — let’s say you want to create a new product, service or TV show.
You look at your competitor’s products –
· What do they offer?
· Where does it fall short?
· How can we improve it?
(Challenging Orthodoxies & Understanding Needs)
· What will be the likely factors in consumer decision-making, today and tomorrow?
(Harnessing Trends & Understanding Needs)
· Where do we think this industry is headed in the future?
· Can we rethink how an existing product might be used? Can we change its USP?
· Can we redefine the received wisdom?
(Challenging Orthodoxies, Harnessing Trends & Understanding Needs)
· What other services/products can we model ours on?
(Leveraging Resources)
· Are there lessons in other industries we can utilise/repurpose?
(Leveraging Resources & Harnessing Trends)
1 –
When your competitor seems to be one up on you, it is the perfect time to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy and create a paradigm shift in your favour.
2 –
If you can pick up on a new trend in the consumer or society, you can get ahead of the curve — and your competitor.
3 –
You are more likely to be innovative if you are constantly learning new things. The larger your internal solar system, the more connections and combinations you will see, and the more resources you will have to leverage.
4 –
The more interested you are in new trends and existing ideas, the more likely it is you will be able to respond quicker than your rivals to understanding consumer/society needs.
GAMECHANGERS IN THE MODERN AGE:
AMAZON — spotted that the trend for the future was selling on the internet.
NETFLIX — responded to the need for people to watch great films without having to rent a physical product.
DYSON — leveraged knowledge of using centrifugal force in factory equipment.
All these examples challenged the orthodoxy of how things could be done.
MAKE YOUR WORK CULTURE AN INNOVATION HOTBED
Our minds automatically create patterns — to make things easier for us, and reduce the need to think. But this can stifle that childish wonder of play and inquisitiveness which is at the core of finding new connections. Brainstorm with the 4 lenses to leverage the power of play.
Beware of the dangers of groupthink. Ensure you are getting the ideas of all your team, and hear them democratically. Too much conformity of opinion too early stands in the way of challenging orthodoxy.
This is why we developed Ideaflip — an ingenious tool for the remote-working era, providing the perfect, online space for all your team to connect, interact and create — wherever in the world they are.
Combining elements of brainstorming & brainwriting, the Ideaflip Silent Brainstorm PROCESS is also perfect for at-work collaboration. It democratises the workplace, creating a platform for everyone to have their ideas heard — inspiring PEOPLE to participate through PLAY — and helps discover and harness everyone’s latent creativity.
Why not Use the 4 lenses as the basis for your next brainstorm on Ideaflip?
Get groups of 4 or 5 to take a lense each as the starting point of their session.
We’d love to hear how you get on. How else could you brainstorm using the 4 lenses?
Ideaflip is an ingenious tool for the remote-working era, providing the perfect, online space for all your team to connect, interact and create — wherever in the world they are.
The Ideaflip Brainstorm PROCESS is also perfect for at-work collaboration. It democratises the workplace, creating a platform for everyone to have their ideas heard — inspiring PEOPLE to participate through PLAY — and helps discover and harness everyone’s latent creativity.
