One of my favorite segments of my recent TEDx talk on the neuroscience of serendipity. Where do these fleeting moments of meaningful coincidence come from?. From the brain's natural drive for meaning and our inability to find a satisfactory explanation

RT @mattjohnsonisme: The older we get, the better we were. But how does nostalgia actually work? Why does the past feel better and better….

The older we get, the better we were. But how does nostalgia actually work? Why does the past feel better and better as we get older? And is this applied in marketing?. This all comes down to a phenomenon known as rosy retrospection

RT @mattjohnsonisme: Ever heard of a friction audit?. It’s like a financial audit—but instead of money, you’re tracking moments where peopl….

RT @mattjohnsonisme: From Adam Alter’s excellent Anatomy of a Breakthrough. The book is a must-read.

RT @mattjohnsonisme: The most liberating creative truth you’ll ever hear:. You don’t need to be profoundly original. In fact, trying to be….

From Adam Alter’s excellent Anatomy of a Breakthrough. The book is a must-read.

The real magic isn’t in creating from nothing. It’s in seeing what already exists. and noticing what’s missing. That’s where breakthroughs often hide.

Arlene Harris built a phone for older adults—bigger buttons, simpler design, real support. It wasn’t sexy tech. It was needed tech. She didn’t invent phones. She fixed them for people everyone else ignored. That’s how she made the Wireless Hall of Fame.

Recombination means merging existing things in unexpected ways:.– Punk + Disco = Nirvana.– Smartphone + Laptop = iPad.– Elderly needs + Better UX = GreatCall (from Arlene Harris). Innovation doesn’t mean new. It means better.

So why do so many startups fail chasing radical originality?. Because they’re trying to make something no one’s asking for. Most real success comes from solving an old problem better, not inventing a brand-new one.

The same principle holds in business. Google wasn’t the first search engine. Amazon wasn’t the first online store. Apple didn’t invent tablets or smartphones. But they recombined and refined. That’s what made them revolutionary.

Dave Grohl? He openly admits Nirvana’s drum beats were inspired by disco. Questlove says: “The DNA of every song lies in another song.”. The idea that originality means starting from scratch is a myth.

When Olivia Rodrigo was accused of copying Elvis Costello, he shrugged it off. “It’s how it works,” he said. “You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand-new toy.”. That’s recombination.

The most liberating creative truth you’ll ever hear:. You don’t need to be profoundly original. In fact, trying to be 100% original is a fast track to paralysis. A quick 🧵 about recombination, and how real breakthroughs actually happen.

This thread was inspired by a brilliant example from Adam Alter’s Anatomy of a Breakthrough. Highly recommend it if you're interested in how real change happens - especially when you're feeling stuck.

The lesson?. If you're stuck - whether you're a solo creator or a global brand - don't just work harder. Start looking for friction. That’s where the breakthroughs happen.

Put in a jungle gym. Call it “Småland” like IKEA does. Offer one free hour of child care. Parents shop longer. Stores earn more. Same logic applies to "husband lounges" in China. stocked with beer and football. It might sound silly. But it works.

Parents would start shopping. until their kids melted down. Then: immediate exit. One small, emotional friction point cost malls hundreds of thousands in lost revenue. The fix?. Install a play area. Seriously.

Here’s a real-world example:. Mall operators noticed some shoppers would stay for hours—then leave without buying a thing. Why?. Turns out the culprit wasn’t price, product, or promotion. It was kids.

That’s what a friction audit is for. Step 1: Locate the sticking points. Step 2: Smooth them out. Step 3: Check if your fix actually worked. Simple process. Huge results.