ASSOCIATIVE BARRIERS
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Creative successes and chances to innovate best occur at the intersection – a place where wildly different ideas bump into each other and build upon each other. Not only do we have a greater chance of finding remarkable idea combinations there, we also find many more of them. Breaking down associative barriers is fundamental to reaching the intersection. |
Associative barriers are the limits we cluster around a concept in order to categorize and structure the stimuli in our environment. Building such barriers is the mind’s way of creating order in a chaotic world. Researchers suspect that these barriers are responsible for inhibiting creativity. People with low associative barriers can make unusual connections that may eventually lead to successful creativity. These include individuals who have been exposed to various cultures, that are self-taught, and/or that have less traditional backgrounds. Such people are less wedded to one way of doing things and are therefore more likely to arrive at unique intersections. |
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Frans Johansson The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures Harvard Business School Press, 2004 |
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