Neuroscience of Innovation
Artificial Intelligence, a threat or a miracle?
8 Eylül 2019
Lead yourself to lead others
23 Ekim 2019Innovation is irrefutably the engine of the economy and all the developments we face every day. Most of the public believe that innovation is a derivative of creating new ideas; however, the reality is much more complicated than that. Recent studies in the organizational development and neuroscience disciplines suggest a multi-faceted subject to understand what makes people and organisations brighter than the others.
Amy Edmondson defines the productive environment in her book ‘The Fearless Organization’ where people feel psychologically safe when they share their ideas, feedback and constructive criticisms. Where this happens, firms benefit from better ideas, greater risk-taking, more learning and fewer disastrous decisions. Leaders’ conscious and subconscious behaviours – including actions, words and even subtle cues – suppress alternative views. Employees won’t share their ideas and opinions for fear of looking foolish, offending others, damaging relationships, or losing their jobs. One of the keyword to be noted here is self-censorship.
Another side of ideas is expertise. Malcolm Gladwell suggests that 10.000 hours of practice is needed to get sharp in any subject. Though many scientists challenged this exact number since the day it is invented, the idea is pretty clear. Creating ideas need a concerted effort of learning and being curious regardless of the total time spent. However, overspecialization is also a recent topic discussed in management science society members. The problem is ‘if you all have a hammer, everything will look like a nail’. In his book ‘Range”, David Epstein summarised as ‘Everyone is digging deeper into their trench and rarely standing up to look in the next trench over, even though the solution to their problem happens to reside there’.
Amy Edmondson defines the productive environment in her book ‘The Fearless Organization’ where people feel psychologically safe when they share their ideas, feedback and constructive criticisms. Where this happens, firms benefit from better ideas, greater risk-taking, more learning and fewer disastrous decisions. Leaders’ conscious and subconscious behaviours – including actions, words and even subtle cues – suppress alternative views. Employees won’t share their ideas and opinions for fear of looking foolish, offending others, damaging relationships, or losing their jobs. One of the keyword to be noted here is self-censorship.
Another side of ideas is expertise. Malcolm Gladwell suggests that 10.000 hours of practice is needed to get sharp in any subject. Though many scientists challenged this exact number since the day it is invented, the idea is pretty clear. Creating ideas need a concerted effort of learning and being curious regardless of the total time spent. However, overspecialization is also a recent topic discussed in management science society members. The problem is ‘if you all have a hammer, everything will look like a nail’. In his book ‘Range”, David Epstein summarised as ‘Everyone is digging deeper into their trench and rarely standing up to look in the next trench over, even though the solution to their problem happens to reside there’.
Many companies are deliberately investing in their work cultures and hiring the best people to ramp up their results. However, at a very high rate, the results are happening far away even from their basic expectations. So what is the missing point then?
In one the Front End of Innovation conferences, I had the chance to listen to Charles Limb who is a professor of otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins Medicine who has a sideline in brain research and also on the faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music Main topic was brain activity of professional Jazz pianists who are well known for their solid music theory and moreover fantastic skills of improvisation. Thanks to the introduction of the fMRI technique helped to understand how the brain works under different conditions and input. After 30 pianists he worked with, the takeaway with his own words is as follows:
In one the Front End of Innovation conferences, I had the chance to listen to Charles Limb who is a professor of otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins Medicine who has a sideline in brain research and also on the faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music Main topic was brain activity of professional Jazz pianists who are well known for their solid music theory and moreover fantastic skills of improvisation. Thanks to the introduction of the fMRI technique helped to understand how the brain works under different conditions and input. After 30 pianists he worked with, the takeaway with his own words is as follows:
So during creative playing, you get this combination of self-expression with the absence of conscious self-monitoring. We think that's how jazz musicians are able to improvise.
No one can deny their expertise in Jazz, so this is the 10000 hours part of creativity. In addition to this magic starts after shutting down the self-monitoring, self-censoring part of the brain, which immediately reminds the fearless organisation that people have no fear of expressing themselves.
Unfortunately, the formula is not that simple according to very recent studies in decision making and brain wiring. Though people believe that they have the free will to move and decide, almost all function is coming from how they are raised. The scientific explanation will be beyond the scope of this article, but in summary, if people get used to being commanded in the family, through the education system, in their most productive period of life, they will always be self-monitoring and even chase for a leader cult to follow. Only a small minority of them will have the chance to be wired with this creative setup and ability to express this.
As a summary, innovation has always been one of the critical quality of human history to dominate the environment they lived in. However, with the introduction of different technologies coping with the complexity of life is getting harder for the majority. Studies persistently show that if education systems are not adjusted to wire our brains to express freely, making self-decisions willingly, the rest of the picture will just be detail and only a privilege for inborn skilled creative people.
Unfortunately, the formula is not that simple according to very recent studies in decision making and brain wiring. Though people believe that they have the free will to move and decide, almost all function is coming from how they are raised. The scientific explanation will be beyond the scope of this article, but in summary, if people get used to being commanded in the family, through the education system, in their most productive period of life, they will always be self-monitoring and even chase for a leader cult to follow. Only a small minority of them will have the chance to be wired with this creative setup and ability to express this.
As a summary, innovation has always been one of the critical quality of human history to dominate the environment they lived in. However, with the introduction of different technologies coping with the complexity of life is getting harder for the majority. Studies persistently show that if education systems are not adjusted to wire our brains to express freely, making self-decisions willingly, the rest of the picture will just be detail and only a privilege for inborn skilled creative people.