There is a very useful 2026 book by George Newman titled How Great Ideas Happen: The hidden steps behind breakthrough success. An article by George Newman at the NextBigIdeaClub in January 27, 2026 titled The Surprisingly Simple Formula Behind Breakthrough Ideas also discussed it. There are a dozen chapters in the book, three each in four parts:
Part 1 - Surveying Where to Search for Ideas
Chapter 1: Burn the Cabin Down
Chapter 2: Originality Ostriches
Chapter 3: Bottoms Up!
Part II - Griddings: Organizing Your Search
Chapter 4: The Guiding Question
Chapter 5: Think Inside the Box
Chapter 6: Transplanting
Part III - Digging: Unearthing Promising Ideas
Chapter 7: More Is More
Chapter 8: Search Far and Wide
Chapter 9: The Spark
Part IV – Sifting: Choosing Which Ideas to Pursue
Chapter 10: Create By Subtracting
Chapter 11: How Ideas Feel
Chapter 12: The Learning Curve
On page 63 (as shown above) he says that:
“…the most successful creatives I know have a striking thing in common: They have developed a knowledge funnel. They know a lot about one or two things and a little about a lot of things. But more than just that, they are highly adept at relating those foreign ideas back to their own expertise. Great visual artists will take concepts from philosophy or science and translate them into their preferred medium. Great musicians can take ideas from completely different musical genres or totally different arts and connect those ideas back to their own instrument. Great chefs might find inspiration from ideas totally unrelated to food or cooking. And some of the most successful scientists I know can take a concept from some distant field, translate it into the language of their own expertise, and see the implications for a problem they are working on.”
In Chapter 4 on page 83 he defines:
“THE FOUR FEATURES OF A GUIDING QUESTION
SPECIFIC: It is phrased in a way that allows you
to narrow in on a particular niche area.
OPEN-ENDED: It encourages multiple answers
rather than a single correct one.
MOTIVATING: It engages curiosity and
motivates you to delve deeper.
MEASURABLE: It has measurable outcomes
to determine if you’re on the right path.”
In his Conclusion: Getting Unstuck on page 243 he describes three roadblocks:
Roadblock #1: You haven’t done enough work up front
Roadblock #2: You’ve settled on an idea too early.
Roadblock #3: You’ve fallen in love with an idea, not the process.
And on Page 245 he describes The Creative Explorer’s Toolkit:
Don’t be an Originality Ostrich.
Expand Your Influences.
Be a Problem Finder.
Embrace the Constraints.
Keep Digging.
Explore the Uncomfortable Ideas.
Think about Floating a Raft (versus Building a Tower).
Invite Others In.
My funnel was adapted from a miniature image at Wikimedia Commons.
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