Angeles Arrien

Creating the Medici Effect

“…When you step into the intersection of fields, disciplines, or cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas. The name I have given this phenomenon, The Medici Effect comes from a remarkable burst of creativity in fifteenth-century Italy. The Medicis were a banking family in Florence who funded creators from a wide range of disciplines. Thanks to this family and a few like it, sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, financiers, painters and architects converged on the city of Florence. There they found each other, learned from one another, and broke down barriers between disciplines and cultures. Together they forged a new world based on new ideas—what became known as the Renaissance. We, too, can create the Medici-Effect. We can ignite this explosion of extraordinary ideas and take advantage of if as individuals, as teams, and as organizations. We can do it by bringing together different disciplines and cultures and searching for the places they connect…The Medici Effect will show you how to find such intersectional ideas and make them happen…”

—The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts and Cultures
     by Frans Johansson. p. 4-5                             

 

Monthly Practice: 
 

• Research demonstrates that the average person can think of twice as many ideas working with a group than when working alone. Expand your creativity and perspective by inviting five people from different disciplines, culture, and age groups to help generate new ideas and perspectives on a project, problem, or meaningful idea.

• What disciplines have you explored beyond your current expertise? Expertise for all its strengths can make it more difficult to break out of established patterns of thought. What new interests would you like to explore that would allow you to learn differently? Choose three different areas to explore outside your current expertise this month. Notice new insights and ideas that are generated as a result of exploring “outside the box”. Where are you creating a Medici Effect in your life?
   
   

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