‘Cross-pollination’ Leads to Good Ideas
Art By Rebekah Jenks
Guest Writer ‘Mark G.’ is a San Francisco BayArea - based product inventor and consultant, entrepreneur and CEO of product companies in the cannabis and PPE industries, as well as an instructor at the Academy of Art University, and founder/partner of rogue innovation + design consultancy.
Priuses. Labradoodles. OG Kush.
Although these random items appear to have little in common, they do share one thing: cross-pollination. You might be asking yourself, what is cross-pollination? Cross pollination is essentially the combination of things to create a better solution–essentially, mixing. To romanticize it; alchemy. To put that in the context of cannabis culture, cross-pollination could best be exemplified by one of the most popular hybrid-strains ever, OG Kush. OG Kush is technically a three-way hybrid (tri-brid?) of Chemdawg x Hindu Kush Indica x Lemon Thai Sativa. Three separate strains that are amazing by themselves are combined, or cross pollinated – to create a new, arguably better solution – a true cross-pollination.
This process of mixing disparate components to create a total that is better than the sum is akin to problem solving. The mixing of problems and ideas to create solutions is one of the oldest and arguably the most important processes we as humans NATURALLY utilize. I argue that the existential reason for humanity is to problem-solve with the goal of advancing our lives. How do we do that? You guessed it–cross pollination– mixing scenarios with our experiences to ultimately create ideas. Perhaps you might argue our purpose is to procreate. I say yes, and add that procreation literally is human cross-pollination.
Art By Rebekah Jenks
As a global product acquisition executive at a not-to-be-named global corporation, a university instructor of invention, drawing, and prototyping, as well as an inventor and innovation consultancy founder, i see the magic of cross-pollination in much of my work, and in most of the individuals of the design and invention worlds I find myself immersed in. More importantly, and likely a surprise to you, I also see this in ‘non-creative’ individuals everywhere and all the time. The only difference between those of us in the creative world is exposure: exposure to education, resources, and opportunity.
My education was in industrial design. In that curriculum I was exposed to a cross-pollination of drawing, building, and most importantly, ideating. Those three components are the tent poles to design and when I was exposed to it, I instantly fell in love and have never looked back. My favorite design component of the three is ideating. Ideating is the process of producing ideas; brainstorming, hypothesizing, deaming. I suppose the reason I love this component so much is because it is a mix (cross-pollination of course!) of problems and hypotheses to arrive at a
Conclusion– or an idea. Ideally, many. Going through the process of design and product development many, many times has, just like any muscle, trained my mind to be a creative machine. One that has–and hopefully will never stop–creating many many ideas, that fortunately many have gone on to enjoy success in the marketplace.
But back to exposure. I have been exposed to many fellow designers and inventors in my years as a toy, game, and product designer and inventor, design teacher, and consultant. What I am most happy to see and share is that inventions do not only come from ‘exposed’ designers or inventors, engineers, scientists, artists, etc. Inventions come from every walk of life. From stay-at home mothers, to retired postal workers, to elementary school children, cross-pollination is manifested into innovation everywhere and from all walks of life.
The critical reason why most of these individuals see their visions realized is either they got help, found a way to show others, or they found a way to do it themselves. Either way, they were exposed to the truth; that we can solve problems and enjoy the realization of their solution’s vision, and generally, the prosperity that comes from it. As the Mandalorians once said, “This is the way.” I believe this IS the way for us to achieve happiness from independent craft and innate ability, and why I am writing this; to share the thought that it is indeed possible to cross-pollinate this world with creativity and hopefully actually make a buck or two from it. As I said, it comes down to exposure. May this help in exposing you and everyone around you to this truth.
At a restaurant when I see a stack of paper napkins under an uneven leg of a table, I am happy by the example of cross-pollinating a problem, ideas, and solution for the issue of an off-kilter leg. At my parents’ home, when I see cardboard duct-taped to the back of my dad’s safari hat to provide the back of his neck protection from the searing California sun, I am inspired by that elegance of adding two simple items together in order to bring comfort and convenience to his everyday life.
In my youngest daughter’s bedroom, I was elated when I saw that a five-year-old had put all her dolls in the pockets of a door-mounted shoe organizer (not the floor!). Innovation is possible by all. It starts with problems and its resolution ends with cross-pollinating that problem with your hope to architect a solution.
Early in my career, I was tasked to invent a game based on headphones. Naturally, I began to think that the game should be based around music, and ultimately dancing. Pop culture during the time included a period where a phenomenon called ‘flash mob dancing’ gained popularity. For those that don’t know or can't’ remember, flash mob dancing was a scenario where many people gathered somewhere public and started dancing in a group seemingly unprovoked or unplanned. Sometimes it was a mess. Sometimes it was absolutely spectacular. What it always was is an example of cross pollination; or in this case, a mixing of a normally pedestrian public space with the raucousness of loud music, and the energy of mass dancing. The result? An inventive concept that spawned a generation, of which the term “viral” began.
With that as inspiration, I began ideating that the new game concept would have technology to empower game players to emulate this new craze. During a brainstorm, we mixed in a simple technology (infrared) that would sense movement and ultimately get the player to move their arms in such a way that it appeared that they were dancing. The tech would also have the ability to communicate with other game devices to synchronize multiple players (dancers) to really drive home the flash-mob group dancing component.
Art By Rebekah Jenks
The promise was great but the result was underwhelming. Everyone connects headphones with music, and thereby dancing. Frankly, this reflected the worst three words any inventor wants to hear, ‘it's been done.’ Meaning although the cross-pollination of features, technology, and use was novel, the form wasn't. It still needed more cross-pollination.
Ah, Invention–the act of creating something that hasn’t been done before– the ultimate goal of my task and the ubiquitous headphone was not getting it done. Play is said to be the best way to experience and learn any subject, and that’s just what I did. I put the headphones on and began to dance, emulate game play, and even wore them in a different orientation. Eureka!
When I rotated the band that goes over the top of your head to in front of my eyes, playing resulted in the last piece of cross-pollination that turned this concept from good idea to great item, immediately licensed by a major toy company. Play empowered the mixing of headphones with the idea of goggles (which, at the time, VR goggles were a big buzzword). We landed at a solution that was contemporary and even added a better play experience. All because cross-pollinating design with play empowered our team to mix until we had the perfect recipe.
The cannabis space is ripe for cross-pollination. The green wave of such a young and burgeoning industry is still ascending, and there is much opportunity for innovation and prosperity to be had. I have been fortunate enough to help clients invent industrial harvesting and processing, consumption and cleaning tools, and also packaging, to name a few. I may have crazy hair like a certain Dr. Emmit Brown or Einstein, but that is where any commonality ends.
I am not a scientist or engineer. Yes I am an industrial designer, but more importantly, even without the training, I’m an entrepreneurial problem-solver with unique life experience and inherent ability that can be wielded to create a novel solution. Just like you. As you read this, I wish to cross-pollinate your mind and spirit with inspiration and proof that it can be done, and that independent prosperity through your cannabis craft is yours to be had.