I like the distinction in this slideshare between the ‘Wizard Merlin’ approach to insight – the Feynmanesque brilliance that allows a few ‘magicians’ to spot patterns the rest of us can’t see until they are pointed out to us – and the ‘Prepared Mind’ approach that Columbo is credited with, and that us plebs can cultivate in ourselves.
Leading innovation depends on cultivating a ‘prepared mind’ (see the post on happy accidents), though I’m pretty sure it was Pasteur who coined the phrase ‘the prepared mind’, not Posner, as credited in this slideshow. I’m looking forward to Harry Palmer on strategy…
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