The Royal Academy Dictionary does not recognize the word serendipity. Fortunately today there is a free encyclopedia called Wikipedia where it is defined as follows: A serendipity is a fortunate and unexpected discovery or find that occurs when you are looking for something else.
For those of us who don’t believe in luck, serendipity refers to the mixture of the unexpected, the valuable and the intrinsic with the potential to change the course of life. Columbus’ arrival in America is a well-known story that today is recognized as an example of serendipity, since his original purpose was to find a route to the Indies. However, we recognize that it came about in the course of his remarkable intentionality.
That is, while serendipity can indeed occur in the circumstances of chance, its potential can be greater if explored in an intentional manner. It is like the day when there was no cilantro in the house and in the search for options we decided to add celery to the gallo pinto. The result was happy, different and delicious, because there is nothing better than a new crunchy and aromatic texture in food.
So, just when I thought that intentional serendipity would be an innovative and unique concept, I found of course that many had already come before. The usual! Among them, I recommend you spend the next 15 minutes to expand on the concept at TEDxUNC by Corey Ford.
The result of intentional serendipity will be creativity, innovation, positive and happy contributions in the dimension of the different. Therefore, it makes sense to foster an environment, experiences and conditions for serendipity.
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, proposes talent collision among other recommendations. Herman Miller has translated this into the creation of the Living Office, which moves away from isolation in workspaces, to encourage interaction in a solution that prioritizes dynamics. In our country, Tribu DDB has ventured into this vision with Ollería, designed to facilitate serendipity in the search for innovation and creative opportunities in favor of brands, clients and new businesses, causes, community and country.
To turn intentional serendipity into innovation will require legitimate collaboration, systems and processes, resources, focus and daring. It was said long ago and we will say it again and again: it is insane to expect different results by doing more of the same.
As Hugh says in his cartoon: it’s not wishful thinking, it’s entrepreneurship.
