The Four Lenses of Innovation: A Power Tool for Creative Thinking

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There are times when innovation comes about by accident. Somebody tries to invent something to solve a particular problem, but afterward either the inventor or another person stumbles upon an exciting alternative use for it. Although there is a great deal of serendipity involved in these cases, they still reveal a lot about how innovation works, and especially about a certain thinking pattern or perspective that often leads to unexpected breakthroughs—namely, the ability to look at an existing idea or asset and figure out how it might be radically repurposed or redeployed to create value in a new context.

John Pemberton was a pharmacist and a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War.⁸⁸ In the Battle of Columbus, Georgia, in 1865, Pemberton had been wounded in the chest by a saber and subsequently became addicted to morphine, then commonly used as a painkiller. When the war ended, he used his knowledge of pharmacy to try to create an alternative, opium-free painkiller in an attempt to cure his own addiction. After a few concoctions, what he finally invented was “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca,” a medicinal remedy for headaches, which contained red wine, coca leaves, and kola nuts.⁸⁹ The very same year, Atlanta passed legislation prohibiting the sale of alcohol, so Pemberton was forced to change the recipe for his beverage. What he came up with instead was a base syrup that he eventually mixed with carbonated water, calling the new drink “Coca-Cola.” ...