Acorn as Innovation Instructor

Great lessons in innovation abound. We need to grant ourselves permission to see them — not to imagine the impossible, but rather to recognize the apparently unlikely yet perfectly obvious.

Take the acorn, for instance. If I arrived on Earth from outer space and someone asked me to organize an array of life forms by species, never would I imagine the acorn and the mature oak tree belonged together.

I might view the acorn as a rather small nut that I can twirl between my finger and thumb and then not think twice about tossing over my shoulder. The full grown oak tree, on the other hand, would tower before me, a rugged structure that I could scarcely wrap my arms around, and I would need some heavy equipment to move it one inch, much less pitch it over my shoulder. Maybe if I stared long enough — as in, over several seasons — the formation and eventual dropping of acorns would give me a hint, but I’d probably be so busy incorrectly pairing the acorn with the apricot that I’d miss the oak show. I would totally fail as a species-matching visitor from outer space.

Above: acorn and oak leaf (iPad sketches by Lorraine Smith)

Since I’m not from outer space (in spite of occasional feedback suggesting otherwise) I can take a cue from the acorn to think about innovation, to understand…