
Unfortunately, Innovation does not have such first-second-third laws like Physics, at least not yet. However, I feel that Louis Pasteur’s “Chance favors prepared mind” is a strong contender for such a fundamental law of innovation. Let’s call it: Pasteur’s first law of innovation. This law emphasizes two fundamental elements associated with every innovation: (a) role of chance (b) role of prepared mind. Let’s start with the role of chance.

Classical model of discovery: You search for what you know (bird poop) and find something you didn’t know (cosmic microwave radiation).
Beauty of the first law of innovation: What I like about Pasteur’s first law of innovation is that it gives due respect to the role of chance. It is tempting to say that I got to where I am because I am so intelligent and hardworking. While I may very well be intelligent and hardworking, it just undermines the fact that I also got so damn lucky. But the beauty of this law is that it does not have an “unbiased coin” which gives heads 50% of the time no matter what. It says that the coin favors prepared mind. After all, when you hear a hiss, you need to (a) Go looking for bird poop – a hypothesis from the land of “known” (b) When the hypothesis fails, be open to other possibilities, especially from the land of “unknown” (such as cosmic radiation). A prepared mind is does (a) and (b) tirelessly without falling in love with the bird poop (i.e. the hypothesis).
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