Great ideas don't strike like lightning

There’s a myth in Western culture about the hero scientist - Newton being struck by an apple, Archimedes leaping from the bath exclaiming Eureka! We can be led to believe that innovation requires a lightning bolt of genius inspiration. 

What if inspiration never strikes? 

This can feed a fear of failure and the perception that innovation is based on random chance and therefore perceived as high risk. While there may be grains of truth in these stories, in reality lightning bolts don’t come out of the blue. The storm has to brew first. On a summer afternoon the humidity builds, the sky darkens, rumbles echo in the distance, until the moment is right for the storm to break. Fear of failure can hold us back, but we have no need to be intimidated by these hero stories. Instead we can harness our inherent human ingenuity and create an environment in which it can flourish.

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