Innovation lives in the deliberate allocation of resources toward the unexplored.
Reserve most of your energy for what’s working well, but deliberately set aside resources for exploration. Google famously implements this through their “20% time” policy, where employees can dedicate one-fifth of their working hours to projects of personal interest, an approach that birthed Gmail, Google News, and countless other innovations. This isn’t blind risk-taking. It’s calculated curiosity, a strategic allocation of attention to possibilities that may outperform everything currently succeeding.
Most organizations protect the established while starving the experimental, then wonder why they face disruption from smaller, hungrier competitors willing to try what seems uncertain.
The smallest experiments often yield disproportionate insights. A single afternoon testing a new approach, five conversations with customers about an unformed idea, or two hours pursuing a creative technique outside your comfort zone might reveal pathways impossible to discover through planning alone. You’ll build up a systematic practice of learning through practical application.
What would happen if you blocked three hours this week for an experiment nobody expects you to pursue? Choose something small enough to complete but significant enough to matter. The value isn’t in the outcome but in what you learn about possibilities previously invisible to you.
