Seeing Connections Others Miss

As Steve Jobs famously said, "Creativity is just connecting things." This means that being innovative is not about creating something entirely new, but about combining existing elements in novel ways. Being innovative means looking at the world in a way that lets you see patterns, solutions, or opportunities that others overlook. It’s about taking elements that might seem unrelated—a teaching method from one field, a tech tool from another—and combining them in novel ways to solve a problem or improve a process.

For example, think about Uber. The company didn’t invent taxis, GPS, or smartphones. Instead, it combined these existing technologies in a way that disrupted an entire industry. Similarly, in the field of medicine, the use of 3D printing technology to create custom prosthetics is an innovative solution that has significantly improved patient care. That’s the power of seeing and acting on connections others miss.