On serendipity and organizing

On serendipity in science: discovery at the intersection of chance and wisdom

“…James Austin (2003) defines what he calls the "Pasteur Principle": "Some special receptivity born from past experience permits you to discern a new fact or to perceive ideas in a new relationship, and go on to comprehend their significance" (p. 76). Miguel Piña e Cunha and colleagues (Cunha et al 2010) take up Arthur Koestler's (1964) term of "bisociation" as the "functional basis for metaphorical thinking…Bisociation entails an exercise of intuition, the intuitive recognition of possibilities…when ideas are combined in an original way" (Cunha et al 2010, pp. 321 & 323).…”

Coming across information serendipitously – Part 2

“…Fine and Deegan (1996) define it as "the unique and contingent mix of insight coupled with chance" (p. 436), whilst Cunha (2010) defines it as "the accidental discovery of something that, post hoc, turns out to be valuable" (p.320). In our companion article (Makri & Blandford, 2012), we describe it as a process of making a mental connection that has the potential to lead to a valuable outcome, projecting the value of the outcome and taking actions to exploit the connection, leading to a valuable outcome.…”

Location, Working Hours and Creativity

“…Broadening our understanding of active collective and individual preparation for revelatory moments is vital to be able to facilitate epiphanies in the workplace. In this respect, epiphany is a close relative to serendipity: the unsought but valuable discovery of a solution to a given problem while looking for the answer for a different problem (Fine & Deegan, 1996;Merton & Barber, 2004;Cunha et al, 2010). Serendipitous discoveries are also anything but a purely passive process.…”

“…Such surprising insights can then be regarded as instances of chance or serendipity (Cunha et al, 2010;de Rond & Morley, 2009). Little action seems needed for these unexpected insights to occur.…”