Thought Provoking Read - The Medici Effect

I am just finishing reading the Medici Effect by Frans Johansson for the second time. I have this habit of reading really high impact stuff a second to cull even more detail. This is not about the Italian Renaissance it is about ideas, creativity and innovation.

The basic contention of the book is that breakthrough ideas occur at the intersection of ideas, concepts and cultures. I guess we are always looking for verification or affirmation, but this is certainly the approach I have used throughout my career. I have learned and adapted across sports and disciplines. For example, many of my current ideas on planning come from business planning and forecasting. In order to be the best it is imperative to look across disciplines and even cultures. It is too easy to get locked into one approach or one method and become very narrow. This does not challenge you or your athletes. Too many people get limited by their knowledge. Our current knowledge should only serve as a starting point not an anchor holding us back. I know throughout the years when I thought I already knew something I was beat. The author feels that broad education and self- education are two keys to learning things differently. Johansson says”…we must employ tactics that allow us to learn as many things as possible without getting stuck in a particular way of thinking about those things.” (Page 50) Assimilating and applying the ideas presented in this book will definitely allow you to see things missed by others. I really think this what Bosh and Klomp have done in their book and DVD on Running.