The BwB Talk Series gives our international network the opportunity to engage with and learn from innovative leaders in impact, finance, and the environment. The deep knowledge and experience shared across the series provides new perspectives, strengthens our market intelligence, and generates new ideas.
"One of the key themes in our conversations with CEOs is the idea that cultivating serendipity is an active approach to leadership in times of uncertainty.”
This radical reframing of ‘serendipity’ is just one of the ways in which Christian Busch, business professor at University of Southern California, affiliate researcher at the London School of Economics, and co-founder of Leaders on Purpose and the Sandbox Network, is driving new thinking on purpose-driven leadership and social innovation.
Christian’s thought-provoking session with the BwB team began with him explaining how a dramatic personal experience sent him on a journey to explore ‘purpose’. “I realised that I get a lot of meaning from connecting ideas, connecting people, and the sparks that come from that,” Christian explained. "I took this into my life as an entrepreneur and a community builder and, later, into academia.”
Of key interest to Christian was his observation that many of the most interesting, inspiring, and purpose-driven people appear to have something in common. “They are really good at ‘connecting dots’, at ‘cultivating serendipity’.”
The role of serendipity as a catalyst for personal development and leadership is a key theme of Christian’s research, in his work with CEOs on success and future readiness, and in his books The Serendipity Mindset and Connect the Dots.
“Serendipity is about potentiality. It's about what could be.”
Christian spoke about understanding serendipity as a mindset, linking this into a large amount of research on neuroplasticity, which explores our capacity to ‘rewire’ our brains in ways that support our ability to positively rewire relationships and networks.
His own research has included work on how we can create ‘active luck’ to drive serendipity, including the finding that people who consider themselves to be lucky tend to be luckier in the future. “This isn’t some kind of ‘hocus pocus magic’, but because of the mindset with which they approach the world and challenges,” he explained. The lively Q&A session that followed Christian’s presentation included discussion of risk-taking and fear in the process of serendipity, personality traits of successful leaders, and the cultural differences in people’s perceptions and understanding of luck.
A heartfelt thank you to Christian for an inspiring and informative session!
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