Innovations can come out of the most unexpected places. Understanding its origins can easily be overly simplified into a moment of eureka when inspiration strikes. We don’t see the accumulation of circumstances that led to this moment. We often discount the influence of previous innovations on our outlook. In many cases, the innovation story succumbs to the narrative fallacy where we assign a more significant role to luck than to talent and mindset. 

While luck can be an essential ingredient, we must be prepared to recognize and act when opportunity or information presents itself. As Louis Pasteur declared in 1854, “In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.” It requires one to recognize the importance of what they are seeing but also be open to diverse ideas. We then need to able to make the connections.