If you haven’t seen it yet, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is probably the biggest movie in the world right now. It’s #1 on Netflix and the perfect mood elevator for a world in lockdown. It’s been on fire on social networks as well, with fans of the movie posting “reaction videos” of themselves blubbering while watching the grand finale, like this was the musical answer to Christian the lion. Perhaps, in a way, this article is my own way of sharing my joy over this film – by explaining what this film and its concluding song can teach us about true innovation.

But first – SPOILER ALERT – if you haven’t seen the movie, stop here!

Avidya is a Buddhist concept that describes a kind of ignorance that stems from an inability to see the nature of reality. The word “vidya” is the root of our word “video”, and comes from ancient Sanskrit meaning “to see” – hence avidya is “not seeing the reality of things”. (Putting an “a” in front of a word makes it the opposite, like atypical or atonal). I believe that it’s possible that COVID may have a beneficial side effect, to bring humanity into a state of “covidya” – the capacity to more clearly see the reality of things… together.

To understand the big picture, take with me a journey back in time, way back to the Cambrian explosion 500 million years ago… when we were single cells trying to figure out how to evolve into multi-cellular organisms. This particular process of advancing to the next stage of evolution, called coadunation, required learning how to work together. In my forthcoming book, “Coadunation: The Emergence of the Global Brain,” I propose that the very first requirement for the coming coadunation of human consciousness is learning how to see reality clearly collectively.

In recently released article in Pediatrics, researchers explored the acquisition of language and the significant role that parental behaviors play in the process. Language development is one of the most crucial milestones in childhood and has been shown to predict occupational and academic success as well as social cohesion and psychological health. And so, distinguishing the specific parental characteristics that enhance or harm language acquisition is vital.

In this paper, the researchers refer to what is now being called “language parenting” – specific behaviors in which parents are attuned to the emotional and physical cues of their child, thus creating a better way to explore and learn from their environment. This study provides strong evidence that children who are surrounded by such behaviors are 280% more likely to develop strong linguistic abilities compared to children without such influences.

It should be noted that certain innovation trends, like mystifying technologies like blockchain and quantum computing, are like mini languages. And in the same way, pedagogical approaches similar to language parenting can help business executives accelerate their acquisition of technology fluency, which is vital for leading corporate transformation by innovation.

There’s a really wild idea taking root in the logistics business that asks the question: “Can we make real life more like the Internet?” From this, the vision of the Physical Internet was borne: a crazy notion to model the physical world of transport logistics after the technologies and methodologies of the digital internet. This vision was pioneered by Benoit Montreuil of Georgia Tech University, seeking to “packetize” logistical processes to create more efficient, effective, and sustainable supply chains based on open standards and processes.

So why is this important in the world of innovation? Because it's by studying truly breakthrough ideas, as they are emerging, that we can learn to master the art of innovation. This is the perfect opportunity to do so because this is a huge idea. Read this, and feel the excitement, and share your ideas about it in the comments area!