Creativity, curiosity, and charting a career

I read a fascinating paper this week that used the correspondence of reclusive writers to establish a relationship between the density of a social network and creative productivity. "Structural Holes" was a recurring term throughout the paper. Sure, Wikipedia would have been the more direct way to find out what a structural hole might be, but that's so pedestrian. I followed the references to a second paper that dealt with this concept in a very detailed manner.. Unknowingly exploiting structural holes has been the secret of whatever success I have had in my career. They also provide a possible gap for me to drive more creativity into the organization.

A structural hole is nothing more than a gap that exists between two groups that are part of a larger network. If you had friends in two different cliques in high school, you were the bridge over a structural hole. As like usually hangs out with like, having a foot in different groups broadens your access to information and widens your perspective. Reading about the advantages of being in a position to transfer knowledge from one group to another got me thinking about the origins of the successes that I like to list on my resume and annual reviews. One of them came about because I spent a couple of hours a week hanging out in a friend's lab in grad school. She told me enough about her research that I could see a way to use her techniques to make part of my job easier. Another one of my successes came from not being satisfied with an answer I got from a formulator. Digging into that issue resulted in the development of an excellent working relationship on a project with high visibility. One of my current projects has me working in an entirely different group with responsibilities far removed from my job description.

I've gotten to where I am in my job (whatever that's worth) by sticking myself in the gaps between different groups. This was not done by design. I just can't dutifully deliver my part of the project without understanding how the data I generate will be used to advance the program. I can't leave a question alone when I know a way to find the answer. It's this curiosity that pushes me into these structural holes. Following my inclination managed to get me into a position to have some events that cast a positive light on my activities. People also seem to like the seminars that I give that summarize my work. Seeing that various departments are represented in these sessions, word of what I've been working on scatters to various parts of the organization.

Prior to applying the nuggets that I gleaned from those two papers to my on the job successes, I would have totally missed the social/network aspect of my accomplishments. I focus so much on what I was thinking about and the process I went through to figure out what was going on with a particular problem, how those activities spread information and insight through the organization went right over my head. This is a critical oversight. I've been missing a very direct application of how my preferred method of working generates positive results. This is something I can exploit to drive creativity deeper into my role and the organization as a whole.