Revisiting “Connecting the Dots”

Years ago, I wrote about my per­son­al approach to life and work: con­nect­ing the dots. Instead of rigid New Year’s res­o­lu­tions or elab­o­rate strate­gies, I chose to stay open, mind­ful, and engaged with my sur­round­ings. When I’m fully present—focusing on each moment and con­tribut­ing what­ev­er I can—unexpected con­nec­tions emerge. Dots appear that I can link togeth­er, lead­ing to insights in my per­son­al life and even in busi­ness deci­sions. But when I’m pas­sive or dis­con­nect­ed, noth­ing hap­pens. Those dots sim­ply don’t show up.

At the time, this felt almost intu­itive, even magical.

Discovering the Science of Serendipity

Lit­tle did I know there was rig­or­ous sci­ence back­ing it up.

Recent­ly, I came across a fas­ci­nat­ing aca­d­e­m­ic paper by Dr. Chris­t­ian Busch, pub­lished in the Jour­nal of Man­age­ment Stud­ies: “Towards a The­o­ry of Serendip­i­ty: A Sys­tem­at­ic Review and Conceptualization”.

Busch, known for his work on purpose-driven inno­va­tion and author of the best­selling book The Serendip­i­ty Mind­set, syn­the­sizes decades of research to define and explain serendipity—those sur­pris­ing and valu­able dis­cov­er­ies that seem to hap­pen by chance.

What Makes Serendipity Happen?

Busch clar­i­fies that true serendip­i­ty isn’t mere blind luck. It requires three nec­es­sary conditions:

1. Sur­prise (an unex­pect­ed trig­ger or unplanned moment).
2. Agency (we active­ly notice it, make deci­sions, and con­nect it to some­thing meaningful).
3. Value (it leads to a pos­i­tive, valu­able outcome).

He defines serendip­i­ty as: “sur­pris­ing dis­cov­ery that results from unplanned moments in which our deci­sions and actions lead to valu­able outcomes.”

This aligns per­fect­ly with “con­nect­ing the dots”: the dots are the unex­pect­ed trig­gers, and our mind­ful­ness and explo­rative mind­set pro­vide the agency to link them into some­thing valuable.

Cultivating Serendipity at Multiple Levels

Busch’s the­o­ry goes fur­ther, fram­ing the cul­ti­va­tion of serendip­i­ty as a multi-level process—individual, orga­ni­za­tion­al, and even soci­etal. At the per­son­al level, it involves devel­op­ing alert­ness, open­ness, and a will­ing­ness to reframe sur­pris­es as oppor­tu­ni­ties. Orga­ni­za­tions can fos­ter it through flex­i­ble struc­tures, diverse net­works, and cul­tures that encour­age exper­i­men­ta­tion rather than strict control.

An Active Mindset for an Unpredictable World

This research val­i­dates what I’ve expe­ri­enced: serendip­i­ty isn’t pas­sive wait­ing for luck. It’s an active mind­set. By stay­ing con­nect­ed to our envi­ron­ment, being mind­ful, and con­tribut­ing pos­i­tive­ly, we cre­ate the con­di­tions for those valu­able con­nec­tions to appear.

In a world that often pri­or­i­tizes effi­cien­cy, plan­ning, and pre­dictabil­i­ty, embrac­ing serendip­i­ty reminds us that some of the great­est breakthroughs—in life, inno­va­tion, and relationships—come from the unex­pect­ed. As Busch’s work shows, we can train this “serendip­i­ty mus­cle” just like any other skill.

If you’re inter­est­ed in div­ing deep­er, I high­ly rec­om­mend Busch’s paper (and his book). It might just help you spot—and connect—your next dot.

active mindset christian busch connecting the dots mindfulness serendipty