Connect the Dots: Curating Serendipity to Generate Innovative Opportunities—with Christian Busch
Uncertainty has overtaken virtually every facet of business strategy. With global issues such as the pandemic, economic crises, and general instability, learning to navigate your organization through uncertainty is now an essential skill. Strategists who learn to not only overcome, but to use uncertainty as an advantage will outpace their competitors.
Prof. Christian Busch, PhD, is the bestselling author of The Serendipity Mindset: The Art & Science of Serendipity (“a wise, exciting, and life-changing book;” Arianna Huffington), and Director of the Global Economy program at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs; he has spent over a decade researching what makes some individuals and organizations more successful than others. Through his co-founding of multiple businesses, and his work and research with leading companies – including hundreds of interviews with the CEOs of Fortune500 companies, entrepreneurs, and changemakers—he has discovered that leaders who turn the unexpected into opportunity by “seeing” and connecting the dots outperform their peers, making the cultivation of serendipity an asset in their toolkit.
But serendipity isn’t about “blind” luck—it’s about seeing links that others don’t, combining these observations in unexpected and strategic ways, and learning how to detect the moments when apparently random or unconnected ideas merge to form new opportunities. By learning to harness and create serendipity yourself, you can create innovative opportunities others may miss. In this Roundtable, Christian will share the insights on how you can create your own serendipity in your company and life.
Professor Dr. Christian Busch is the bestselling author of The Serendipity Mindset: The Art & Science of Creating Good Luck—“a highly recommended book” (according to Reid Hoffman, founder, LinkedIn) that provides “excellent practical guidance for all” (according to Paul Polman, former CEO, Unilever) – and an internationally known expert in the areas of innovation, purpose-driven leadership, and serendipity. He is the director of the CGA Global Economy Program at New York University (NYU), and also teaches at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is a cofounder of Leaders on Purpose and the Sandbox Network, and a former director of LSE’s Innovation Lab. His work has been featured by Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Washington Post, the BBC and RTS Serbia. He is a regular speaker at conferences such as the World Economic Forum and TED, and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Expert Forum, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and on the Thinkers50 Radar list of the 30 thinkers “most likely to shape the future.” He received his PhD from the London School of Economics, where in 2018 he won the “top professor” award.
