The Medici Effect

The Medici Effect

In the year 2004, Frans Johansson (A Swedish-American businessman) wrote a book on the intersection of cultures, concepts, and ideas. He based his thoughts on “The Medici Effect”—a term he coined and is now in use in multiple business sectors. It offers a description of resultant innovation as ideas and disciplines intersect.

Johansson argues in the book that absolute innovation is unattainable unless a wide range of industries, disciplines and cultures are intersected to conceive ideas. He, therefore, recommends an assembly of a diverse team of professionals and specialists for a collaborative effort on innovation. 

The author derived his book’s title from the 14^th Century Medici Dynasty. It was one of the most powerful banking families in Italy. The family dedicated their wealth to support talented artists hence prompting the Renaissance. Johansson explores various instances on how poets, sculptors, and philanthropists shaped the innovation history. Others included painters, architects, and scientists (Johansson, 2004 p. 6). He notes that while the Medici family failed to attend the Renaissance, their “Medici Effect” contribution was enough to stamp their position in the history of Florence.

The book has henceforth become the pillar for the “Medici Effect” that explains disruptive innovation contributions from inexperienced professionals in the industry. The author gave an example of such people as Charles Darwin who was a geologist but collected different species of birds in Galapagos Islands. Evidently, Charles Darwin kept sketches of notes on his collections but on his return, he handed them over to John Gould. While the latter was one of the most experienced and respected ornithologists in the UK, he bluntly dismissed the birds’ samples as being normal. He was wrong, as he later learn that the birds had indeed evolved differently due to isolation in the islands. As such, this example from the book demonstrates that though Darwin lacked adequate ornithological know-how or training, his contribution to the field cannot be disputed.

Help and Hindrance

 Johansson states that people have difficulty in attaining the Medici Effect because they associate one idea with the other. For instance, a chef can associate a knife with cutting. Because of such obvious associations, creativity is inhibited. 

            Breaking down associative barriers demands diversity in concepts. There is a need for exposure to different cultures and adoption of a distinct learning culture to view ideas from multiple perspectives. In addition, the author is convinced that people should combine concepts randomly. This is because creative ideas are characterized by untraceable insights and variation in concepts. Chances of success are higher when there is no complete control of random factors.

            Successful innovators produce and realize a significant number of ideas. While it can be viewed as counterintuitive, there is a strong correlation between the number of ideas and their quality. Most of the successful scientists, writers and artists utilize such technique for the best results.

Johansson (2004 p. 26) highlights three activities that an individual can employ for the best results--first, there is a need to gather adequate information regarding field involved. Second, many ideas must be generated before evaluation by brainstorming. Lastly, adequate time for idea evaluation should be allocated. Obtaining creative ideas is easy, but their realization is the hardest part. A pursuit of multiple ideas by innovative people results in failures. However, success is within reach if they execute past their failures. Changing execution plans and gaining intrinsic motivation are some of the ways to succeed.

 In summary, it is clear that Johansson's book outlines the importance of creativity and pooling of ideas to attain success. The book assists the readers to adopt a mindset allowing them to break away from dissociative barriers. 

References

Johansson, F. (2004). The Medici effect: Breakthrough insights at the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures. Boston: Harvard Business Press.