Innovating without limits

Innovating without boundaries can be confusing and overwhelming.

Where to begin? Where to look first? What to focus on?

Big, white spaces can hold opportunities, but they can be difficult to find.

Here are three things to scan for when exploring broad opportunity spaces:

• Patterns: are there any common ways of acting or behaving in the space? What are the commonalities? What are the discrepancies? How present are these patterns? How entrenched do they seem?
• Constraints: what are common barriers and road-blocks in the space? Which of them are perceived and which are real? Which are self-imposed and which are external?
• Rifts: are there any imbalances in the space? Does anything seem at the cusp of bursting open? When was the last time there was a huge rift in the space? What led to it? What happened next?

Each of the above hold valuable information that we can leverage to create more value for benefactors in the explored space.