The Creative Gaps

Extra chapter on – Where Ideas Are Born

Last night, I got caught up in an episode of The World of Science about fish schools. It explored how fish in a school don’t just react to each other, but how a collective consciousness emerges in the space between them. It was fascinating—but what did it make me think about? Entrepreneurship and creativity.

I’ve long said that creativity happens in the gaps. It was an insight I had but had forgotten until I saw that program. What did I really mean by that? And why does it feel so important?

When Nothing Is Fixed, Anything Can Happen

Creativity needs movement, tension, and space. If everything is too rigid, there’s no room for new ideas. If everything is too chaotic, there’s nothing to build on. It’s in the space between—where structures meet but don’t fully overlap—that innovation happens.

Think about conversations. It’s in that space between our thoughts where something is built. The best conversations are those where neither the participants nor the topic get in the way of the human connection.

The Gap in Entrepreneurship

This is exactly how entrepreneurial opportunities arise. The best companies emerge in the gap between needs and existing solutions. Entrepreneurs are masters at seeing what’s missing and filling that space.

Think about modern mobile phones. Filling a gap between mobile phones, computers, and cameras—creating a device that seamlessly integrated them into one. And filled it with a new solution. Or Airbnb, which saw an opportunity in the space between hotels and private accommodations.

Emergence and Entrepreneurship

So, what does this have to do with the concept of emergence?

Emergence is about how complex systems and patterns can spontaneously arise from simple interactions between individual components, without a central authority directing the process. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Examples of Emergent Phenomena:

• Schools of fish and flocks of birds – No single individual decides the direction, yet through simple rules like keeping the right distance and following the nearest neighbor, complex formations emerge.

• The brain and consciousness – Individual neurons have no awareness, but together they create something as complex as thoughts and self-awareness.

• Cities and economies – No single person plans exactly how a city functions, but through millions of interactions between people, businesses, and institutions, a dynamic order emerges.

Entrepreneurship works the same way. It’s often not a lone genius who creates a revolutionary idea but a collaboration between people, ideas, and resources. When multiple elements work together without central control, something bigger and more complex emerges—an entrepreneurial opportunity.

The Market’s Collective Consciousness

Just as a school of fish forms a shared direction without central control, market trends are shaped by thousands of individual decisions. No one dictates which technology will dominate, but through interactions between businesses, consumers, and media, momentum builds.

Entrepreneurial Networks and Idea Flow

Entrepreneurs who surround themselves with other entrepreneurs and investors often experience that ideas “emerge between them” rather than within a single individual. It is in these gaps—meetings, conversations, and collaborations—where the best innovations are born.

Agility and Adaptation

Just like fish quickly adapt to environmental changes, successful entrepreneurs are quick to read the market and adjust their strategies. Those who try to control everything instead of being responsive to the ecosystem often move slower and achieve less success.

Creative Environments and Startup Clusters

If you study places like Silicon Valley or Stockholm, you’ll see that innovation happens in ecosystems where many entrepreneurs, investors, and experts interact. It’s not just about the individuals but how they connect and how ideas flow through networks.

In an entrepreneurial context, these “simpler” elements (such as ideas, networks, and resources) can combine in unexpected and innovative ways, leading to a creative whole that couldn’t be predicted by studying the parts in isolation. A great example is startups, where collaboration between different experts results in groundbreaking products or services that no single person could have created alone.

Can We Design the Gaps?

Maybe it’s the same principle as in a school of fish: it’s not the individuals themselves, but the space between them, that creates the dynamic. The same goes for creativity—it doesn’t arise when everything is filled and predetermined, but in the empty spaces where new connections can form. This leads to an exciting thought: Can we consciously create gaps where creativity and innovation flourish?

I believe we can. In entrepreneurship, in leadership, in conversations—we can design environments where there is enough structure to provide direction, but enough freedom for new connections to emerge.

So next time you’re searching for a new idea—don’t just look at what exists. Look for the gaps. That’s where the magic happens.

Best regards

Stefan Lindstrom, International Keynote Speaker & Trainer.

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