Human beings are creatures of habit, and in many cases, this serves us well. But an over-reliance on the instincts built from past experience to guide future activity can blind us to major improvements or opportunities. Embracing a Discovery Mindset along with knowing how to assess a situation and a sense of what will have value can lead you and the organization to new levels of competency and performance.
Based on the diagram below, ask yourself – How would you describe it to someone ? If you are like most people, you’d say something like this – ‘I see a white triangle on top of a black triangle and there are three black circles at the points.’ Now look again. Where is the white triangle ? Your brain ‘ sees ‘ it, but there is no such shape there ! Rather, there is a pattern of circles and thick lines that make a space in the centre look brighter than the area outside of it, creating the appearance of three edges.
This phenomenon is known as ‘ illusory contours ‘ – an example of pattern-matching – whereby when the brain receives visual data suggesting the existence of an edge, it tends to fill in the rest of the information. Illusions also occur in non-visual form. When a pattern seems to fit our previous experience, our brains tend to process it automatically, adding or subtracting data to conform with past observations.
Further, it’s hard to see something when your past experience hasn’t conditioned you to look for it. So, how do you get past familiarity or biased automatic processing with a new perspective on a fresh look ? Answer – You need a “ Discovery Mindset ”.
With many organizations being complex and dynamic plus rising expectations, an evolving business landscape, and the increasing digital capabilities, etc. we can’t only rely on our instincts, familiarity, or accept the status quo to anticipate an outcome or how a change may play out. Further, trying to make a big change will probably increase risk. The essence of the Discovery Mindset to improve decision making lies in asking questions, knowing how to look at a situation and doing what is needed to make things better. To effect change, start small, be deliberate, try one measure at a time and move increasingly faster as you learn. Also, be aware that since a major innovation frequently is not obvious in the beginning, give yourself time to think about where this could go.
Adopting a Discovery Mindset means challenging (situations and people) and looking at things from different perspectives. This means considering more than the “ obvious solutions “ (based on their experiences, familiarity and automatic processing) until you understand the real problem and opportunity.
To develop a “ Discovery Mindset “ –
- Be curious and have a willingness to try, ask questions, be open to new thinking
- Seek different perspectives or ways of looking at situations
- Start experiments small, test and learn
- Determine the ‘ low hanging fruit ’ to better understand what the objective should be, what new value or opportunity is important, what investments are needed, who should be involved in the project, etc.
- Learn from projects that didn’t work out as planned
- Have a portfolio perspective (ie: knowing there will be some successes and many failures)
- Deliver impressive results that improve outcomes
- Encourage others to develop a “ Discovery Mindset “ to make Innovation, Transformation, R&D, and Corporate Venture Investing more rewarding
Summary
By opening ourselves up to considering not just one possibility or view but many, we move from a scarcity mindset to one with options and abundance. This fundamentally enables the neural pathways to train our brains to be more curious and flexible to be better at understanding, adapting, creating new value, learning from surprises (or failures), etc.
In addition, a “ Discovery Mindset “ is also important for strategic thinking, having good look ahead, developing the confidence “ to try “, getting past the fear of dealing with unknowns and change, etc.
Given the significant benefits with developing the “ Discovery Mindset “, looking forward to sharing insights to make it happen.
May 29/2026 CAIL Innovation commentary info@cail.com www.cail.com 905-940-9000