It’s clear why researchers, scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs would be interested in serendipity, but why would psychotherapists? When we think of serendipity, the sensational examples catch the eye: vulcanisation, velcro and viagra for instance. Yet there are many more smaller but no less significant instances of serendipity at the personal level. Although the ‘ah-ha’ moments get all the press, they are only a small part of the serendipity process that Penny Tompkins and I mapped into six stages. We regularly see our clients go through a similar process and supporting them to maximise serendipity is one the most important parts of our work.

1. Maximising Serendipity
The art of recognising and
fostering unexpected potential
A Systemic Approach to Change
James Lawley
NLPtCA Conference, June 2013

2. Presentation Preamble
Maximising Serendipity: The art of recognising and fostering unexpected potential
- A Systemic Approach to Change
It’s clear why researchers, scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs would be
interested in serendipity, but why would psychotherapists? When we think of
serendipity, the sensational examples catch the eye: vulcanisation, velcro and
viagra for instance. Yet there are many more smaller but no less significant
instances of serendipity at the personal level. Although the ‘ah-ha’ moments
get all the press, they are only a small part of the serendipity process that
Penny Tompkins and I mapped into six stages. We regularly see our clients go
through a similar process and supporting them to maximise serendipity is one
the most important parts of our work.

3. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Apelles of Kos
(4th century BC)
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4. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
And then what happened?
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5. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
invented in 1948 by
Swiss electrical engineer
George de Mestral.
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6. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Where did these come from?
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7. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Charles Goodyear
accidentally spilled a rubber
mixture on a hot stove and
discovered that heating
natural rubber and sulphur
created a durable and
flexible material
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8. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
What else did he notice?
What’s the connection?
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9. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
• Sildenafil citrate, started as UK92480,
a new treatment for angina,
• Male patients said it did nothing for
their heart but strange things
happened in another part of their
anatomy ...
• Now we know it asViagra (Pfizer)
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10. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
What is serendipity?
Coined by Horace Walpole in 1754
after reading about the adventures of
TheThree Princes of Serendip who
‘were always making discoveries, by
accidents and sagacity, of things which
they were not in quest of ...’
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Sagacity = keen mental discernment and good judgment.
From Latin sagax, ʻwiseʼ .

11. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
And it is not ...
Synchronicity:
Two events
apparently causally
unrelated or unlikely
to occur together by
chance, yet are
experienced as
occurring together in
a meaningful manner.
(Carl Gustav Jung)
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This simple definition compresses
several aspects/stages in the
process of serendipity.
See slide 14.
or

12. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
What kinds of serendipity
were involved in the velcro,
vulcanisation and viagra
examples?
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13. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Kinds of serendipity
Not looking for, yet find an unexpected
connection and create something new
Looking for a solution, and stumble upon
a new way of doing it
Expecting one thing, and finding something
different applies elsewhere
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14. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
The Serendipity Process
E+1
Recognise
Potential
E
Unexpected
Event
E-1
Prepared
Mind
E+2
Seize the
Moment
E+3
Amplify
Effects
E+4
Evaluate
Effects
Iterative circularity
!
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15. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Exercise: When did serendipity
happen in your development?
E+1
Recognise
Potential
E-1
Prepared
Mind
E+2
Seize the
Moment
E+3
Amplify
Effects
E+4
Evaluate
Effects
E
Unexpected
Event
!
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16. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Louis Pasteur
“In the fields of observation,
chance favors only the prepared mind.”
Curiosity help too.
E-1 Prepared Mind
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17. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
• An event that is unanticipated, anomalous,
random etc.
E Unexpected Event!
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18. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
• Requires someone to detect or recognise the
unexpected event as potentially serendipitous.
Detecting ‘potential’ involves an evaluation.
Because ‘potential’ has not yet happened it must
be a forward-facing evaluation.
• While it is impossible to know in advance the
long-term consequences of any event, a person
with expertise in noticing serendipity learns to
detect a ‘pattern of potential’.
E+1 Recognise Potential
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19. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
• Having stumbled on to something, it is
essential that the chance event or ‘mistake’ is
acted upon.
• Choosing the appropriate action to preserve
and amplify the potential, not necessarily the
event, is a skill in itself.The action can occur
immediately after the recognition of the
potentially serendipitous event, or much later.
E+2 Seize the Moment
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20. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
• Make friends with the Law of Unintended
Consequences:
• It often takes a confluence of effects to turn an
event from an interesting anomaly into
serendipity — you need to be both in the right
place and at the right time.
• Network effects such as amplifying feedback
loops and contagions will come into play.
E+3 Amplify Effects
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21. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
• E+1 to E+4 often require multiple iterative
processes that work from the small to the
large scale.
• Many small-scale serendipitous events may
be required before a large-scale
breakthough occurs.
• Qualities like persistence, determination and
sometimes bloody-mindedness are useful
Iterative Circularity
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22. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
And the significance for
psychotherapists?
If ...
✓ Information is not transformation.
✓ Affect is not effect.
✓ Insight is not foresight.
what are we looking for?
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23. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Isaac Asimov
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science
is not 'Eureka!'
but
'That's funny...'."
E+1 Recognise Potential
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24. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
The unexpected will turn up unexpectedly, we
don’t need to make it happen.
Surprise is the unexpected knocking to come in.
But opening the door will disturb the equilibrium
Can we accept the invitation even when we may
be off-balance?
If our clients and their inner worlds do not
continually surprise us, how open are we to
changing our minds?
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25. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Exercise: Self-modelling
detection signals
• How do you know when there is a
‘potential for change’ moment?
• What lets you know when the client is
having a serendipitous moment ?
• How do you know when something small
is happening that could have a big effect?
(NB.These are 3 ways of asking the same question)
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26. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Malcolm Gladwell
“Insight is not a lightbulb that goes off inside
our heads. It is a flickering candle that can
easily be snuffed out.”
✓ Stay with the moment - extend it
just before
during
just after
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27. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Albert Einstein
"Nothing happens until something moves."
✓ Develop the vector
Amplify effects
Iterate, iterate, iterate
Look for positive feedback loops and
contagions.
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28. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
I’ll leave you with a
final thought:
Learn to distinguish between
the sensational and the salient
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29. James Lawley, Maximising Serendipity, NLPtCA Conference 2013
Further reading:
http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/blogs/85/
Maximising-Serendipity-for-Personal-Change.html
http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/224/1/
Maximising-Serendipity/Page1.html
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