An incumbent can afford to attract world-class talent. But what about a scrappy start-up? How do they do it? In “In The Plex,” Steven Levy shares how Google managed to attract the brightest in computer science before it had 10 employees. Large orgs should take note, too.

Breakthroughs are often ushered in by surprises. And surprises take many forms. Sometimes you go seek them out, but other times, the surprises seem to do the seeking, at least to the person who’s aware of their tactics. One of my favorite tactics of a surprise is to sneak up like a joke.

“‘You can't understand Google unless you know that both Larry and Sergey were Montessori kids,’ said Marissa Mayer. ‘Montessori’ refers to schools based on the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori, an Italian physician born in 1870 who believed that children should be allowed the freedom to pursue what interested them.”

It’s been nearly 18 months since I worked in regular physical proximity with my team at Stanford. Of all the things I’m looking forward to, I must say that eavesdropping is near the top of the list. And no, I don’t just mean overhearing others’ conversations (although I certainly do mean that!); I mean people overhearing mine, too!

All too often we are trapped by implicit assumptions and definitions that arrest our thinking. But how do we overcome these blind spots? One way is to deliberately seek out interpretations that challenge our own definitions of words like “customer delight.”

Google recently blocked PM’s time to “Sharpen the Saw,” inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s quote, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” But what does that look like for an information worker? My $0.02: carving out time to invest in learning.

Innovators from Aristotle to Einstein to Beethoven to Edison have wielded the power of a nap. And while I’ve long appreciated these examples, I’ve never had a “nap-to-eureka!” story of my own… until recently.

While reframing is necessary to generate breakthrough solutions, oftentimes a new frame in and of itself is insufficient to unleash a team’s breakthrough thinking: many still find themselves at a loss for how to proceed. This tool creates breadcrumbs for moving forward.

At the d.school, we have long held that the environment where creative activity occurs is a foundational element of the creative process; so much so that instructors often refer to the space (both physical as well as emotional) as “the other teacher.”

I’ve realized I need a habit of documenting the problems for which I’m prone to seek closure. Just like we advise folks to keep a “Bug List” of potential problems in the world worth solving, I need to keep a “Shrug List” of all the problems I’ve kicked down the road.

From education reformer Kwaku Aning, “Do I go deeper on a specific topic or do I learn something entirely new? Part of me is a proud generalist, but another part is an aspiring ‘expert.’ I’m at peace with the struggle.”

Uncertainty is one of the most psychologically distressing phenomena we experience as human beings. For this reason, we long for what social psychologist Arie Kruglanski called “cognitive closure.” But this is NOT a helpful tendency when solving novel problems.

From Richard Wilding, Founder of WMW. “Believing that the client is always right, at the expense of the mission you’ve set out to achieve, means that you create all sorts of headaches…”

Dr. Anja Svetina Nabergoj writes, “Once you know your energy curve, you can derive WHEN to do WHAT. Seek alignment between what your brain is best primed to do at any given time and the task you will engage in.”

Historic inventors, artists, and innovators hack their baser impulses with an output regimen. I’ve noticed in my own life that it’s impossible to overstate the power of a commitment to output, even one that few people are watching.

It’s easy to neglect learning, or allow it to be pushed off the plate in the midst of a busy week. Even if you’ve blocked time for learning on your calendar, it’s easy to fudge when you’re only stealing time from yourself. Simple hack: invite someone else to the learning moment! Another learner is MUCH harder for me to blow off than I am.

The single-most enjoyable hour of work each week is the hour I deliberately shed the “teacher’s” cap and put on the student’s. Instead of showing up to talk, I show up to listen. But boy does it take intention to protect that time.

Examples from Google X, Amazon, and even 3M all demonstrate that public ceremony reinforces organizational values, especially when those values run contrary to conventional business rules.

This post is from Kelly Garrett Zeigler, VP of Consumer Data and Insights at Vans, a VF Company. “Creativity isn’t a privilege or luxury reserved for an elite few, and it’s not a monolithic ideal with a narrow manifestation via the arts. It’s a capacity and responsibility that lives in all of us.”

“On August 5, 2010, 700,000 tons of some of the hardest rock in the world collapsed in Chile’s century-old San Jose mine. The collapse buried 33 miners at a depth almost twice the height of the Empire State Building — over 600 meters (2,000 feet) below ground. Never had a recovery been attempted at such depths…”