Serendipity was the subject of my first two blog posts in September and October 2013. Both posts were different takes on how we can create our own serendipity. I have been a long time believer in serendipity since I can point to a fair amount of it in my own life. I have had enough of it that I strongly believe there are a number of different ways you can increase your odds of experiencing it. I highly recommend conferences and other well chosen gatherings as starting points since they have been a primary source of serendipitous interactions with people, organizations and ideas that have changed my life. In most cases I likely would not have encountered them in any other way.
In 2015, as my focus for this blog shifted from millennials to the needs of the 50Plus demographic, I hadn't yet thought to touch on serendipity again. It was an article in the NY Times the week before last by Pagan Kennedy entitled Cultivating the Art of Serendipity that put it back on my radar screen. Her subtitle makes a point that caught my eye right away, "Innovation isn't all hard work or dumb luck: It's about paying attention". Kennedy’s timing was itself serendipitous because I quickly realized that I had overlooked that serendipity can be a key ingredient in helping the 50Plus demographic to face its major financial challenges in the coming years.
My message to the 110 million strong 50Plus demographic is this: we have to begin to embrace entrepreneurship to generate the additional income needed to overcome the structural problem of outliving our financial plans. In short, for many, “entrepreneurship will be a necessity, not a choice”. Just to be clear, when I use the term entrepreneurship I start with entrepreneurial thinking. Learning to think like an entrepreneur isn’t based on genetics, it is not a trait that you either inherited or you didn’t. It is a learned behavior accessible to all of us. I am not suggesting it is an easy learning curve, but I can speak from experience as a serial entrepreneur, as well as from teaching others, it can be done.
Tina Seelig, a leader of Stanford University's preeminent entrepreneurship program, provided a definition of entrepreneurship in her book Insight Out. In her words, “entrepreneurship involves building the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to see problems as opportunities and to leverage resources to bring ideas to fruition.” In her book, Seelig presents what she has dubbed the four part Invention Cycle. This cycle is rooted in using curiosity to spur your imagination, which then seeds creativity to allow one to visualizeinnovations, which finally opens the door to the act of entrepreneurship to bring them to fruition. Seelig doesn’t mention serendipity. However, reflecting on the first part of Pagan Kennedy’s subtitle, “Innovation isn't all hard work or dumb luck”, I would suggest that "cultivated serendipity" is “smart luck”, which I assume is why Kennedy describes it as being, “about paying attention”. I would hold that smart luck based on paying attention is a perfect additive to the Invention Cycle. My gut says Seelig could agree with that.
The 50Plus demographic is loaded with experience, knowledge and well honed skills. Cultivating “smart luck” by paying attention with the right attitude seems like what the doctor ordered to get us on track to solving our own problems. If any demographic can do it, we can.
Having defined the scale of the problem in my last post, coming up with another key ingredient here, in the next few posts in this series I will explain my thoughts on how this all fits together and most importantly why I am confident that if we stay focused we can succeed in controlling our own destinies. It is not too late! I will share more details of my own experiences and those of others, including stories of folks who have cultivated serendipity in various ways to succeed as entrepreneurs. My focus is going to be heavily skewed towards micro-entrepreneurship, starting small to create our own jobs without taking huge financial risks. This is in contrast to trying to fulfill the dreams of economic development officials looking for the next Facebook, Google, Apple or sharing economy startup to create massive numbers of new jobs in their geography. I will emphasize that working smart in this day and age means acknowledging the power the Internet, not ignoring it. A few more posts will take us to the launch of my offering to the 50Plus community based on a new website later this month or in early February. I am excited to share it with you!
Stay tuned a little longer…..in the meantime please continue to comment here or e-mail me at weg3@me.com.
