Thread by @rout_satyajit

A thread on how to succeed accidentally:

1/ We work hard to be intentionally successful. But success is more circumstantial that we would care to admit. Many great inventions first failed to do what they set out to, but succeeded completely differently.

2/ Nobody cared that play-doh could clean soot off walls. Bubble wrap didn’t make it as textured wallpaper. But that didn’t stop them from a commercially successful pivot. How can we follow the same model in our lives?

3/ Exaptation is the circumstantial repurposing of a trait or behavior developed for a different function. Feathers were meant to offer insulation, not help birds fly. Baby wolves licking mother’s mouth for food became dogs licking the faces of their owners.

4/ Exaptation is often confused with adaptation. The difference is in intended use. Where a trait is developed and used as intended by natural selection it is adaptation. Where it ends up being utilized not as evolution dictated but in other unexpected ways, it is exaptation.

5/ Why should we care? Because it's easy to 'get stuck in functional fixedness, a mindset where we see in things only their intended use, rather than their potential use.' Should we be willing to consider regular things in irregular ways, possibilities emerge.

h/t: @farnamstreet

6/ Like the story of William Perkin, a British chemist in 1856 who in trying to synthesize quinine to treat malaria ended up with a purple dye that made him hugely successful in the fashion world. Exaptation delivers some key lessons.

7/ 1-Don’t be chained to your plan.

The founders of Glitch were making a video game and built an internal messaging service to suit their needs. Hello, Slack! Same story: Burbn to Instagram. Success is a pivot away.

h/t @ProdExPodcast

8/ 2-One pivot does not guarantee success.

AOL Instant Messenger was built as a side project by engineers; without management support, it failed to innovate and died. Exaptation is only pre-adaption. Once oriented to a new goal, we need to adapt.

h/t @ProdExPodcast

9/ 3-Acquire generalist skills.

Generalists are multi-directional. Unique combinations of skills lead to more happy accidents. Same happens with group diversity. When we work with (or listen to) people unlike us, there are fewer blind spots and more opportunities.

10/ Finding new utility for pre-existing features offers great competitive advantage if we look past discouraging outcomes. And like the crossing over from Burbn to Instagram shows, and the demise of AIM proves, the journey of innovation is both exaptation and adaptation.

11/ Hope this synthesis helps you be more alive to following the mental model of exaptation. Follow me @rout_satyajit for more insights into thinking better.

I cover these topics in more depth in my newsletter.
Subscribe!

satyajitrout.substack.com

For more on exaptation and adaptation I recommend reading The Great Mental Models Vol 2 by the superb folks @farnamstreet: @RhiBeaubien @RosieLeizrowice & @ShaneAParrish

These stories on Slack & AIM by @ProdExPodcast are great
rb.gy/0sq1cq
rb.gy/mle4y3

And finally wonderfully interesting profile of William Perkin by @katy_milkman on her podcast Choiceology:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sil…