Beyond Collaboration. Finding the Third Mind.

Without question, collaboration has been recognized as an essential element in the creation of new ideas.

Honestly, it’s kind of a “no kidding” insight.

Somehow, it seems it took a number of decades to dispel the solo genius, lone wolf-ian innovation belief, and its mythology portrayed over and over again in the creative cultural history.

Often one person is identified with a break through insight – but in reality the advance is nearly always the cumulus created reality of multidiscipline intersection, reframing, reflection and the super colliding of skills and minds.

Even with that, it’s interesting that when you explore collaboration principles and best practices – of which there are many – they essentially are all rooted in establishing how best to play nicely together as we share ideas in our attempts and desires to innovate.

Setting rules of engagement, rewards for working together, offering communication training et al. All very nice considerations that do help.

I’ve often pondered, what would André Breton, the author of the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, and his friends might say to this.

The surrealists were a group of artists, sculptors, filmmakers, writers and creative iconoclasts who reframed and reflected a new reimagined future, while surrounded by a world hunger searching for new ideas but disillusioned by political oppression and strife.

One very important belief they developed – and one I believe deeply in today – is in the creation of the Third Mind. This is a transcendent concept – The Third Mind – a way of thinking and creating ideas impossible without the communion of radically diverse thinking, perspectives, and skills. A cumulus effect far beyond people working well together.

It’s not about just comfortably playing together, but passionately creating space and place for vulnerability, and empathy – sans fear of not “knowing” everything – respecting the true challenges faced by the varied disciplines engaged and colliding them boldly together; sparking totally new directions and ideas.

In creating the conditions for the realization of the Third Mind – there must be a guiding sensibility unafraid of people not having the answers, but emboldened by the belief they will create and reveal them. Requiring leadership to relinquish control, embrace faith in process and in people guided by purpose.

If everyone believes in the ability to create this, and in the absolutely unique results it can realize – the "playing nice" aspect is no longer the objective but a means to a progressive positive end.

The Third Mind is a demonstration of benefit over attribute, and focusing on the higher-level creation not merely the "how" of the process.

A few aspects in consideration of creating the conditions for, and results of, a Third Mind experience –

The Energy of Empathy

Inspire with homework – creative thinking needs it.

Learning makes us happy and we need to embrace finding happiness learning about new concepts, perspectives, and disciplines outside our own prior to converging.

With perspectives from other disciplines engaged in the process, and those of the audience of whose challenge or need we are in action to answer to, empathy is then the energy applied to perception and realities. Even if the understanding is basic and fundamental, the basis is foundational to trust.

Apply a More Righteous Integration

Bring together a select multi-disciplined group including expert and amateur, relevant to the question you are committing to answer.

Create overlapping insights that build ideas on ideas – just as the hues cyan and magenta overlapping create a new hue, purple – so too do Third Mind ideas emerge and beautifully build.

Expand and Contract the Super Collider

Get your intention in order in the form of the question you are striving to answer. Align the diverse minds and put the intention into motion.

Let the conceptual circle’s circumference be wide and bold. Don’t contain the energy in a formal limiting space – let it expand. Let the particles run, collide, converge, and crash freely over time and place.

Then realign the energy and examine the insights for next level outcomes.

It’s here you will find the Third Mind. Collaboration yes, with respect always, but most importantly positively focus on the transcendent power of the Third Mind. Where co-magination is a higher power than nice collaboration.