Good ideas come from coffee?

I’ve got a question for you. How is collaborating virtually in 2021 like sitting in a coffee house in the 17th century?

Ten years ago, Steven Johnson published a book called “Where Good Ideas Come From”. He had spent half a decade studying the environments that produce innovation, using examples from nature, such as coral reefs, but also human centres of innovation, e.g. big cities. Based on this, Johnson came up with a theory.

His idea was that the right platform for innovation needs to provide something he calls “liquid networks”. What he means by this is basically connectivity. And specifically connectivity that encourages:

• rapid information sharing,
• serendipitous encounters,
• the formation of slow hunches,
• the exploration of the “adjacent possible”,
• adaptation of the existing solutions for solving seemingly unrelated problems.

Interesting, right? So what’s that got to do with 17th century coffee houses?

One example Johnson talks about is how a factor in the birth of the enlightenment was, in England, the advent of the coffee house. Before this, as most water was unsafe to drink at the time, the population’s refreshment of choice throughout the day was beer and wine. With the arrival of the coffee house, this changed overnight. This event coincided with the beginning of a period marked by the flowering of new exciting ideas — eventually developing into what we now call the enlightenment.

Almost instantaneously, the populous had made a straight swap from depressant to stimulant. That’s a pretty big change for a population that had previously been a bit tipsy all day everyday — it’s no surprise new ideas suddenly started to bloom. Although being at the pub after a few beers might feel like an environment that produces innovation — I can tell you from experience, those plans often don’t look so great in the morning.

However, as well as the stimulating effects of coffee, what also made the coffee house a factor in triggering the enlightenment was the way the space was arranged. The houses were open, with tables but no hard divides. You could listen in on other people’s conversations, you could pull up a chair and get involved. People from different backgrounds, areas of work, walks of life could meet and share. A liquid network had been created.

When I read this recently, it got me thinking…

In this 17th century moment, the way people met and worked changed completely. Last year, the COVID pandemic caused something pretty similar. While before we met in person, travelling to each other’s private offices, exchanging emails — now we meet online, in a virtual world that has endless possibilities and no limits on numbers of connections.

It begs the question, is this the beginning of another, infinitely more connected, liquid network?

It’s totally possible that this might be where you’re jumping off. A virtual world of unlimited connections is maybe not quite what everyone’s experience of remote work has been like. However, I’m telling you. This is genuinely within touching distance.

At ImpactBasis (Basis’s sister company in the EU) we’ve been getting closer to the possibilities that exist. For the REN21 Academy we brought 390 professionals from 77 countries and a multitude of sectors and industries into an open plan discussion space, with total freedom to move, share and connect using Remo (read the case study here). This has also now spawned an ongoing online collaboration space for the REN21 community.

Virtual reality tools like Virbela and AltSpaceVR also offer an experience that is really exciting (check out Matt’s soapbox on this — it’s the future!). I’ve been going for a wander around the Virbela Open Campus over the last days and I can’t help imagining a space filled with communities working on different projects, exploring and experiencing each others’ work as it happens.

Over the last month we’ve also been testing a virtual office called Welo. It’s a space we use continually, to meet and discuss, all totally open and “out loud”. Now as we start to invite more clients and connections to come join us in the space you can feel the energy of the conversations happening around you. And you can jump across and get involved.

Have a re-read of Steven Johnson’s list of conditions needed to generate innovation. For me, these online spaces have the potential to make every one a reality. The tools we need already exist and they provide a perfect forum for “rapid information sharing”, “serendipitous encounters” and the meeting of solutions with “seemingly unrelated problems”. Moreover, although yet to be borne out, maybe the death of the commute leaves space in our lives for “the formation of slow hunches” and “the exploration of the “adjacent possible”.

It’s true that worldwide connectivity existed before this year. Writing in 2010, Johnson actually used the internet as one of his case studies in the book. But now there’s a difference.

Before, the internet was analogue. It was posting on social media, reading an article, watching a YouTube clip. Compare that to genuinely collaborating virtually with new colleagues and new ideas from all over the world, all in real time. Compare that to an open, undivided space, accessible to anyone (without the climate implications of long distance travel) and filled with real people having all kinds of conversations, with different views, expertise and backgrounds. You can pull up a chair and get involved, almost like a 17th century coffee house.

If this still all sounds like a bit of a stretch you need to experience this stuff for yourself. If that sounds appealing, get in touch and I’ll make it happen — we can even have a coffee.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.