The patterns are simple, but followed together, they make for a whole that is wiser than the sum of its parts. Go for a walk; cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity; make generative mistakes; take on multiple hobbies; frequent coffeehouses and other liquid networks; follow the links; let others build on your ideas; borrow, recycle; reinvent. Build a tangled bank.

Being right keeps you in place, being wrong forces you to explore.

Those that regularly come into contact with people having diverse interests and viewpoints are more likely to come up with innovative ideas.

If you look at where innovation - defined as ideas, not as commercial product - tends to live, the university system is remarkably innovative.

What I'm saying is individuals have better ideas if they're connected to rich, diverse networks of other individuals. If you put yourself in an environment with lots of different perspectives, you yourself are going to have better, sharper, more original ideas. It's not that the network is smart.

Chance favors the connected mind.

When it's a sharing and improvisational meeting, where you're riffing off other people's ideas, that actually can be productive.