Neuroplasticity and The Innovator
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury.
It’s a topic that has fascinated me, not just because I work in the world of medical device development, but because I have come to realize that neuroplasticity is a skill in and of itself, and one that defines an effective innovator.
Innovators are people in your organization who are able to quickly and easily make connections between dissimilar topics and mechanisms to come up with seemingly spontaneous solutions to complex problems. This is most commonly equated with product invention. However, over my tenure working in groups of creative-minded individuals, my colleagues and I often find ourselves in meetings that have nothing to do with product ideation, but are nonetheless complex and ambiguous problems searching for a fresh perspective on solving them. Manufacturing, finance, operations, and even infrastructure planning have pulled on the lateral-thinking skillset of this group of product designers (and the discussions are almost universally fruitful).
A good innovator is like a sponge, sucking up methodologies, mechanisms, and solutions to known challenges as they move throughout the world. The ability to make these connections is a practiced skill, and one that becomes immediately apparent in those who are experts at it.
When thinking about why these individuals are so good at this creative problem solving, I have started to see a pattern begin to emerge. It should come as no surprise that most of them have broad knowledge in a specific field and a deep understanding of how to rapidly assess and meet user needs in that field. Doing this in the field of implantable medical devices is, in fact, the job description that I was hired under.
However, the vast majority of these same people also have a broad range of knowledge and interests which, at first glance, seem completely unrelated to the medical device field. From building ultralight planes to throwing pottery, and designing bike frames to amateur meteorology. These ‘hobbies’ become much more than just an activity to pass the time outside of work. Each of them is intellectually stimulating, and lead to a deep knowledge base in an unrelated field. The common thread throughout all of these is that the innovator has pursued them without any formal schooling or instruction, but has been able to become proficient in a short period of time because of their well honed ability to acquire new knowledge and skillsets rapidly.
These individuals are drawn to life on the ‘steep part’ of the learning curve, constantly craving the acquisition of new knowledge and skillsets. Much like a hoarder fills their house with random assortments of items, these innovators fill their mindspace and time with a random assortment of information.
As I talk to new engineers who get hired into our company, one of the things that I stress to them is that you may feel like you are using precious little of the knowledge you have spent the last several years acquiring in school. However, one of the most important things you learned (usually unconsciously) in engineering school is HOW to learn. How to analyze a problem, identify the skillsets needed to solve it, and then rapidly acquire them if you don’t already possess them. This is setting the stage for your ability to work in a wide variety of fields because of the ability to identify needed areas of expertise and then execute on learning them. You come out of a good engineering program with the framework established, but you must also continue to exercise this ability or it will wane with time.
Nauroplasticity is a practiced skill, and those who have mastered created new synaptic connections should be some of your most valued assets in an organization.
So what does this mean for you as an innovator? Or even as somebody looking to add some talent to your team?
It means that direct knowledge of a field when it comes to early innovation and ideation may be less important than the ability to learn quickly and make seemingly dissimilar connections between topics and fields of expertise. It means that training your brain to think laterally is less about acquiring deep knowledge, and more about spending time on the steep part of the learning curve where these synaptic connections are being forced to rapidly develop.
Take some time to learn a new skill or immerse yourself in a different field of study, even if the application of that isn’t immediately clear. Even if you never use the subject matter again, the ability to learn it quickly only increases your ability to do that in other topics as well.
Leaders and managers should also start thinking differently about how we define people’s skillsets, doing that in terms of subject matter alone is likely selling the value of those innovative individuals short. There is likely untapped potential in your organization within these lateral-thinking individuals.
