Serendipity as Strategy

My mother used to tell me this story:

Late in her thirties, doctors said she was unlikely to have a second child. She fiercely disagreed with this assessment, so she drove to the ocean along the Oregon coast to take it up with the universe directly.

She walked straight to the edge of the waves, flung her arms open wide, and shouted, “you will give me this child. I don’t care how or where, but you will give me this.”

Later on, I came along. This was my origin story: born of determination and intention.

Only recently have I started to see something else in this tale. I was speaking to my friend David and he thoughtfully asked, “can you provoke serendipity?” 

I first thought of my mother, willing the universe to deliver for her, and then of my own experience launching this company here in 2020. When I started, I began to define what I wanted to do, but I also make sure to allow room for discovery and surprises along the way.

I committed to habits that I knew would invite inspiration and leaned into the unknowns. In the months that followed, the world lit on fire with protests, awakenings and a global pandemic.

But the universe delivered for me, too. My business took off in more incredible ways that I ever could have dreamed up on my own. 

And then I learned that I have been doing something that others have done before me: I was deploying serendipity as a business strategy.

Thanks to David, I discovered there is a whole school of thought on this topic. Drawing on that research and my own discoveries, I developed this list.

Five Ways to Deploy Serendipity as a Growth Strategy

1. Learn from the artists. 

   So much of business is creative expression. So why don’t we borrow more from the habits of artists, who have perfected the ability to blend discipline with creative inspiration? I’ve read that Lin-Manuel Miranda takes long walks with music playing when he needs to unlock an idea for a song.

    In creative writing, authors use writing loops and workshops to exercise their skills each day, and ‘mind-dumping’ each morning helps clear stress and unearth what thoughts and unearth creative ideas might be lingering in your head. Using prompts can help.  

   Create the space and the ideas will be there. But we can’t force them – we can only allow them room and exercise the muscles. As Pagan Kennedy has said, “As people dredge the unknown, they are engaging in a highly creative act.” 

2. Say yes & listen.

   In business we talk exhaustively about customer centricity and listening to our target audiences to make sure we meet their needs. This is a form of creative inspiration, if you can open your mind and truly listen.

   In the past few months, I have started holding time each week for phone calls with no clear objective. When someone reaches out to connect, I always say yes. And I ask for calls whenever someone strikes me as interesting. I find when I create the time, the calls always appear.

   And then I make sure to listen closely, because each of these discussions sends me off with new ideas and inspiration to apply my business and my strengths to offer value in ways I never could have imagined on my own.

3. Check your Expectations.

   Nothing kills serendipity faster than unrealistic expectations. Brene Brown has a great podcast on “F-ing First Times” (FFT’s) where she reminds us about the value of lowering your expectations when you don’t know what to expect or when you are doing something new.

   Sometimes the learning or the value won’t be what you went in looking for – and that’s all the better. Strategically lowering expectations is a part of embracing vulnerability and lowering the threshold for surprise and discovery. 

4. Embrace diversity 

   It is absolutely no surprise that incorporating diverse perspectives into your business and your personal life will lead to inspiration and innovation. Ralph Waldo Emerson famously described transcendence as becoming a “transparent eyeball,” able to see the world without any bias or expectation.

   But on the flip side, none of us are transparent eyeballs – we are filtered by our unique and singular blend of life experiences. And that alone, when harnessed and invited into a workplace or ideation exercise, inevitably leads to richer opportunities for discovery. 

5. Recognize and activate.

   Serendipity is not an accident, it is a behavior. And, it requires action. When a discovery strikes, you need to be able to call it and act on it. How will you use your platform, position, your energy and skillsets to activate on it? 

   Most of the time, the spark of an idea will occur when someone else comes across your path. So, ask them – how can we bring this to life? Or, you may have a kernel of an idea and you need to seek out the right partner to buy into the inspiration and move it forward. 

   Either way, be prepared to take action before the idea fades away. 

 When we lead with our heart and allow room to follow our innate curiosity, the universe does respond. For me, the past 5 months have demonstrated this with force.

 So, go on. 

Walk up to the ocean edge and touch the water with your toes. Meet the universe half-way and allow yourself to find some magic in it. You just might find that your business will grow because of it.