Wander Part I: Finding your next moonshot idea
Part I: Begin your search by wandering with intention
đMoonshots with an Irish flavor
First up this week, Tamara Carleton spoke about moonshots with RTĂ Radio 1, Irelandâs national public television and radio broadcaster, on the August 5th Reignite show. Hosted by trailblazing journalist Ăine Kerr, the Reignite show is designed to help listeners find the motivation, information and tips they need to take an idea and run with it.
One question we hear regularly â from NGOs to startups, labs to corporate teams, noobs to grey hairs â is: how do I find a moonshot idea?
A moonshot idea is an almost impossible vision with world-changing impact, as we explain in our Building Moonshots book. The heft of a moonshot idea can often make the search for one feel more challenging or even higher stakes than an idea for a new product, app, or service.
So where might you start? XPrize founder Peter Diamandis begins with some sweeping advice to âDiscover an idea resonating with your passion.â While Steve Jobs says, âGood artists copy; great artists steal.â However, neither of these tips truly gets at the how of discovering your moonshot idea.
Renowned inventor and innovator Alan Kay recommends a seven-step approach for âescaping the present to invent the futureâ as such:
Smell out a need
Apply favorable exponentials
Project the need 30 years out and imagine what might be possible in the context of the exponential curves
Create a 30-year vision
Pull the 30-year vision back into a more concrete 10 to 15-year vision
Compute in the future
Crawl your way there
Kayâs approach is well worth unpacking, yet still omits the means to achieve each step, leaving us to decipher how exactly to âsmell out a needâ... or what we could steal to remake on our own terms.
So in this issue, we discuss one of the deliberate ways to find a moonshot-class idea to own.
Part I: Begin your search by wandering with intention
Our secret bonus chapter, which is not in the book, addresses the importance of wandering and listening for discovering possible moonshot ideas. The core act of wandering means to take a different path than you usually would. Likewise, âget outside the boxâ is a classic aphorism that is meant to capture a similar notion to âget off the beaten path.â Wandering entails much more than where you go (or donât go). It means opening your eyes up, listening deeply, getting away from your normal headspace, and, in the best of circumstances, taking someone with you on the journey.
On this last point, a wealth of research, some academic and some popular, shows that a walk with someone â a colleague or two, family, or long-time friends â increases our ability to discover and connect new ideas. Use this insight to your advantage! Take a walk with a long-time collaborator when you want to explore a problem. Or invite a colleague out and take a longer, meandering route to your normal coffee shop when you want to work through a question thatâs top of mind.
Wandering is part of your moonshot discovery process. When combined with listening, you become more attentive to sensing possible discrepancies or finding new glimmers of opportunity.
Wander and listen
This section highlights some examples of moonshot thinking and doing all around us and links them to specific Moonshot Ways from our Building Moonshots book. (Note that indented text highlighted by a blue line are direct quotes from each article.)
Financial Times
July 26, 2023
Is the US still capable of science moonshots?
What increasingly worries American scientists in less commercially viable areas is that basic research often requires investment for many years before it bears fruit. Business leaders that will back moonshots â such as Elon Musk â are the exception, not the norm.
â¶ïž Moonshot Way 4: Fund for breakthroughs
Nikkei Asia
July 28, 2023
Nintendoâs Mario mission: grab IP limelight as Switch sales dim
For nearly 10 years, Nintendo has been working â with hits and misses â on an intellectual property-based transformation. It is a shift designed to leverage its brand and shield its earnings from the new-hit-to-fading-star cycle of the video games business... Shigeru Miyamoto, the game creator who brought Mario to life, said in 2019 he hoped to one day develop Mario into a character that could rival Mickey Mouse⊠[yet] Nintendoâs IP business remains dwarfed by its console commerce. Consoles typically account for 90% of the company's revenue.
â¶ïž Moonshot Way 1: Always focus on the long view
Bloomberg
August 3, 2023
Whatâs an Ambient Superconductor and Why the Buzz About LK-99?
The concept of developing techniques for transporting electricity with no resistance is tantalizing because it has the potential to revolutionize the energy industry, reducing waste, lowering bills and helping to curb global warming⊠Thatâs why claims this year about a breakthrough in finding the first room-temperature superconductor technology grabbed the worldâs attention and sparked surges in certain Korean and Chinese stocks.
â¶ïž Moonshot Way 10: Engage with esoteric STEM
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