Serendipity, not only is it a great sounding word it’s been behind a gamut of scientific discoveries: penicillin, neoprene, viagra, microvascular surgery, the small pox vaccine - were all lucky discoveries.
With serendipity having such a great track record it’s probably worth trying to encourage serendipitous discovery in market research.
Fortunately luck and serendipity aren’t mystical, uncontrollable forces which whimsically come and go from our lives. In his book The Luck Factor psychologist and all round interesting guy Richard Wiseman argues that luck can be controlled. During the course of the book Wiseman outlines four principles which separate the lucky from the unlucky:
- Maximise your opportunities
- Listen to your lucky hunches
- Expect good fortune
- Turn your bad luck into good
(It’s worth reading the book if you’re interested in this topic.)
You never know, by embracing these sorts of principles and encouraging serendipitous discoveries in market research we may discover something wondrous.