Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives

David Bowie once put it, ‘The idea of mixtures has always been something that I’ve found absolutely fascinating, using the wrong pieces of information and putting them together and finding a third piece of information.’

John Kounios, a psychologist at Drexel University, argues that daydreaming strips items of their context. That’s a powerful way to unlock fresh thoughts. And there can be few better ways to let the unconscious mind chew over a problem than to turn to a totally different project in the network of enterprises.

the real waste would be to let ideas sit in their tidy silos, never to be released.

3M also rotates its engineers from one department to another every few years. This policy is one that many companies resist – not to mention some employees

The enemy of creative work is boredom, actually,’ he says. ‘And the friend is alertness. Now I think what makes you alert is to be faced with a situation that is beyond your control so you have to be watching it very carefully to see how it unfolds, to be able to stay on top of it. That kind of alertness is exciting.’

What is more, he says, people respond to unexpected stimuli and constraints all the time. We just don’t call it randomness. A good conversation is a constant stream of unexpected responses. A new collaboration forces fresh perspectives and demands attention. ‘That’s why working with somebody new can be very exciting,’ Eno says.