The Serendipity Mindset - by Christian Busch

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In 'The Serendipity Mindset - The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck', Christian Busch explains that serendipity isn’t about luck in the sense of simple randomness. It’s about seeing links that others don’t, combining these observations in unexpected and strategic ways, and learning how to detect the moments when apparently random or unconnected ideas merge to form new opportunities. Busch explores serendipity from a rational and scientific perspective and argues that there are identifiable approaches we can use to foster the conditions to let serendipity grow.

Drawing from biology, chemistry, management, and information systems, and using examples of people from all walks of life, Busch illustrates how serendipity works and explains how we can train our own serendipity muscle and use it to turn the unexpected into opportunity. Once we understand serendipity, Busch says, we become curators of it, and luck becomes something that no longer just happens to us—it becomes a force that we can grasp, shape, and hone. Full of exciting ideas and strategies, The Serendipity Mindset offers a clear blueprint for how we can cultivate serendipity to increase innovation, influence, and opportunity in every aspect of our lives.

Dr Christian Busch, is an internationally known expert in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship. He is the Director of the Global Economy Program at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, and also teaches at the London School of Economics. A cofounder of Leaders on Purpose and the Sandbox Network – and former co-director of the LSE’s Innovation Lab – he has worked with senior executives around the world.


Key Learnings

Optimism. Open-mindedness. Curiosity. Perseverance. Adaptability. These are some of the core qualities of the serendipity mindset. With this mindset, you can seek out and embrace the unexpected and use these unusual moments to make new and exciting connections. When you begin to see the world with this frame of mind, you’ll begin to see that each and every day is filled with the unexpected, and chances to spark new serendipitous ideas and innovations. This holds true for businesses as well. With a few changes to culture and environment, you can begin to set the stage for more innovation and fortuitous events to transpire.


There are several kinds of serendipity, but they're all different than "blind" luck of the draw - they're about creating "smart luck"

What is serendipity? The word itself dates back to 1754 when British writer Horace Walpole used it to describe a kind of discovery that was made unexpectedly, by accident, or through a certain foresighted wisdom known as 'sagacity'. This definition has more or less stood the test of time. However, think of serendipity as a positive occurrence, one made when your actions collide with chance. This means serendipity is different from pure chance, or luck on its own.

Generally speaking, there are three types of serendipity:

1. The first is Archimedes Serendipity. 
This is when you’re looking for a solution to a specific problem and the solution arrives in an unexpected way. The name comes from the story of how Archimedes solved the problem of King Hiero’s crown. King Hiero had hired a goldsmith to make a crown – and he’d given him a precise amount of gold to make it from. The goldsmith forged the crown, and it weighed exactly as much as the gold he’d been given, but King Hiero grew suspicious. What if it was a forgery? So Hiero called upon the brilliant Archimedes to test its authenticity. Archimedes thought it over. And during his brainstorming, he went to the public baths. Here, serendipity struck. Archimedes noticed how the water levels rose as people lowered themselves into the baths – and, in a flash, he knew how to test the crown. Gold is denser than silver. This means that, if a pure-silver crown and a pure-gold crown weighed the same amount, the pure-silver crown would be larger. And a larger crown would displace more water than a smaller crown. Thus, Archimedes correctly reasoned, if Hiero’s crown had been diluted with silver, it would displace more water than if it were pure gold.

2. The second type of serendipity is Post-It Note Serendipity. 
This is when a solution is unexpectedly found for a problem that wasn’t even being considered at the time. The name comes from the Post-It note. They were invented when Dr. Spencer Silver, a researcher for 3M, was trying to develop a new type of strong glue. One attempt fell short. It wasn’t very sticky at all. But Silver was curious to discover the potential for this weak glue. It eventually became the perfect ingredient for the Post-It Note.

3. The third type is the Thunderbolt Serendipity. 
As the name suggests, this is when you’re struck by a solution out of nowhere. You weren’t examining any specific problem or researching any particular solution. You were just going about your day when out of the blue an idea and exciting new opportunity presented itself.

Sometimes, serendipity might be a combination or variation of these types. But no matter what, these aren’t cases of blind luck. Hitting upon serendipity is something you can facilitate, as long as you have the right mindset.


Serendipity is usually about connecting dots that have previously remained elusive

How we interpret or look back upon serendipity is important. In fact, it can make a big difference in the likelihood of serendipity occurring in the future. For example, we shouldn’t think of serendipity as a singular event, even if it is one of those thunderbolt experiences. Instead, we should think of it as a process. Often serendipity is the result of seeds that were planted weeks, months, or years in advance. And it always requires something of you – whether it’s noticing a value that hasn’t been seen before, or drawing a conclusion that hasn’t been reached before.

One of history’s famous accounts of serendipity was the discovery of penicillin. One day, Dr. Alexander Flemming returned to the lab to find that some of the petri dishes had accidentally been left uncovered, sitting on a windowsill. He’d been working with an infectious bacteria and was surprised to find that the dishes had become moldy, and around that mold, the bacteria had vanished. Now, some doctors would have just focused on the mistake of leaving the dishes uncovered and gotten back to what they were doing in the first place. In fact, other scientists had already noticed that mold could kill bacteria, but they didn’t connect the dots and explore this any further.

But Flemming was curious. He saw the opportunity here. He was open to the possibilities and shared his ideas with trusted colleagues. This curiosity and openness was key to the serendipitous results. So, this is one of the first things to be aware of when it comes to cultivating the right mindset: being perceptive, curious, open-minded, and eager to see opportunities where others might see only negativity. This also requires an observant and perceptive attitude – the kind that not only notices something unusual, but can connect that bit of information with something else.


Being attuned and alert to serendipity means letting go of ingrained biases

Do you ever find yourself being a glass-half-empty type of person? It can happen to the best of us. In fact, having biases and preconceptions goes hand-in-hand with human nature, but that doesn’t mean it’s helpful in life. As far as serendipity goes, having strict, unbending preconceptions can be a big hindrance.

There are four biases that can stand in the way of serendipity:

1. The first is underestimating the unexpected. 
This is the kind of attitude where someone believes life is full of the predictable, the boring, and the expected. This attitude has been especially prevalent in the business world. Traditional strategy has generally centered around stability, and repeating what has worked in the past. But given the amount of data we now have access to, and how fast things are changing, it’s become clear that no matter how much you try to plan and prepare, the unexpected always happens.

2. The second bias is conforming to the majority. 
Again, this is a very natural bias to have. It’s safe and comfortable to stick to the majority opinions and ways of doing things. But this can easily lead to a self-censoring herd mentality that isn’t conducive to taking advantage of unexpected developments. Christian Busch works as a consultant for businesses, and one of his practices is to find a high-traffic spot somewhere in an office where he can sit at his laptop and eavesdrop on what people are saying. It might be next to a break room or the water cooler. It gives him a chance to get a sense of what the culture is like at the company. Is it one that promotes free-thinking or stifles it? If people are getting together and talking about how foolish it was for someone to speak up at a meeting and propose a new idea, then he knows this is a bad culture for serendipity and innovation.

3. The third bias is post-rationalism. 
A big reason for being skeptical about serendipity is that we tend to look back at an unusual occurrence and spin it into something predictable. This is related to “hindsight bias,” and it’s a very human thing to do. It’s more comfortable to think of everything that happens as being a sensible part of an ongoing narrative, not as a bunch of random, chaotic events.

4. The fourth bias is functional fixedness. 
This is when you develop skills or a certain expertise and that becomes the only way you want to do things. In other words, you want every problem to have one solution.


To stay alert and motivated, remain focused on a meaningful north star.

What motivates you on a day-to-day basis, money or something more meaningful? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was developed by the philosopher Abraham Maslow over 50 years ago, but it’s left a lasting impression and continues to influence many of today’s social theories.

In short, Maslow’s hierarchy suggests that people are first motivated by basic things like food and shelter. Once that is covered, people are then motivated by sex and relationships, and only later on, when all the lower needs are met, are they concerned with loftier things like existential fulfillment. It sounds logical, but this is an idea that is currently being challenged.

There’s a good reason for people wanting to be purpose-driven rather than money-driven: it feels a lot better and is more rewarding in the long run. Putting your true values to the side in order to show up for your day job can be exhausting. It takes energy to hide your true self from nine-to-five every day. The better path is to be authentic, stay true to yourself, and find a way to mix purpose with a paycheck. This is important for serendipity as well, because an exhausted mind isn’t going to be eager to spot the unexpected and make valuable connections. Instead, it’s the focused mind – one that is fixed on a north star, or a guiding principle that cultivated serendipity.

Ideally, your north star is an ongoing purpose, interest, or curiosity that can continue to inspire you indefinitely. It could be as simple as helping those who are marginalised or disenfranchised.
With your north star in place, your serendipity will always have a purpose – you’ll always have a direction on how to act. So when the unexpected does arise, you’ll be well prepared on how to take advantage of it.


You can increase the chances of serendipity in simple ways.

Essentially, you want to create possibilities, and you can do this in a number of ways, no matter what your current circumstances are. There are many people who’ve sent out a mass email to everyone in their contact list, or to people they’ve never met, in the hopes of having a serendipitous result. You may be surprised to know how often this works. Other times, it may be a chance meeting in an elevator or in a Zoom conference, but such encounters require an optimistic willingness to take chances, be sociable, and introduce yourself. Patience is also required. Sometimes, it may take years before the business card you handed someone turns into a case of life-changing serendipity. 


There are easy steps for planting the seeds for serendipity to occur.

Having a strong and healthy network of diverse people helps plant the seeds for serendipity. This kind of network doesn't need to be massive, by it does need to be regularly maintained. While conferences and online platforms can be good for establishing casual connections, meaningful ones need to be kept in good condition through periodic emails, conversations, or some kind of communication to make sure they don't wither away.


Serendipity can take time to develop, so patience is often required.

Another characteristic of the serendipity mindset is grit, or perseverance. The road to serendipity is often paved with rejection, failed experiments, and near misses. Many entrepreneurs will tell you that they were turned away countless times before they finally found the idea that clicked with investors. You need tenacity. Not only because it can take time for the right opportunities to present themselves, but because it often takes time for your brain to connect those important dots. While having a good supply of diverse people around you can be a vital part of setting the stage for serendipity, it also takes patience and perseverance.


Fostering serendipity involves creating a safe space for the mixing of new ideas from diverse minds.

Increasingly, a lot of businesses are wanting to facilitate as much serendipity as possible. They know that things are changing fast these days and relying on stability and consistency just doesn’t make sense anymore. So, what kind of culture and structures do make sense? Basically, you don’t want the kind of company where people are ridiculed for coming up with new or ambitious ideas. You want to create a safe space, where people not only feel free to speak their minds, but where they can also feel free to experiment and fail without fear of being reprimanded or losing their jobs.

This kind of environment often needs to be inspired from the top down. So it’s up to the leaders to tell everyone that the company needs their voices and ideas in order to succeed. If serendipity is to occur, it’s going to require the free sharing of ideas.

Many companies are also forgoing the usual hierarchical structure to empower employees and get them to feel comfortable with making their own decisions. This is also a good move for fostering serendipity, as sometimes the window of opportunity for taking advantage of serendipitous moments is fleeting and requires quick action. 

Businesses are also taking down the walls that used to exist between different departments, and perhaps no company offers a better example of this than the animation studio Pixar. Understanding that mixing diverse ideas is key to innovation, the studio was purposefully designed to maximize cross-pollination between the three main departments – animators, executives, and computer scientists. Built around a central atrium, it forces these three departments to mix and mingle every day.

Ensuring your employees can interact and share feedback is vital. But it’s also important to listen to the customer. Don’t ignore feedback, even if it’s negative. With the serendipity mindset, problems, complaints, failures can be triggers for the most wonderful and creative outcomes.




About Post Author

Hi, my name is Christine Calo and I'm a designer by trade who has an engineering background. I have an interest in design, technology and science which I like to read, watch and write about from time to time. This blog contains random ramblings of these topics and may tangent off to other topics. Want to say hello, you can contact me on: calo.christine@gmail.com

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