Let me start with a personal example: In 2004, I was waiting for the publication of my first book, The Medici Effect. I was nervous, hopeful and relieved to finally be done with a three-year obsession—an investigation into how groundbreaking innovation happens at the 'intersection' of different industries, cultures and disciplines.  But the timing couldn't have been worse. Clayton Christensen's book, Seeing What's Next, was also coming out the same month, from the same publisher.Soon, I was knocking on the doors of Innovation Officers and strategy leaders at companies to 'consult' on innovation and maybe give a talk or two. Turns out, it was a bad plan. Everyone else, some better known than me—including Christensen—were doing the same thing. One evening, my then-fiancée came home and announced that her boss at JP Morgan had tasked her to find a "business case for diversity." As we discussed this, it became clear that my book—my ideas about the "Medici Effect"—fit the bill. Within a week, I was presenting to the head of the investment side of JP Morgan Chase. I share this story because it was the moment when everything "clicked" for me. My entire strategy for a "brilliant career as an innovation though leader" had just been obliterated. Never in all my planning and careful analysis did I ever consider that the answer would lie in the Diversity Office, rather than Innovation. After embracing this possibility, everything changed—so much so, that I finally found the time to focus on finding out whether the success of other individuals and companies all hinged on a similar "click moment" as it did for me. The answer is simply, yes. From Starbucks to Microsoft Windows to Diane von Furstenburg to Twilight, and its 'inspired' Fifty Shades of Grey. The world is unpredictable, and that means we cannot foresee whether an idea or project will turn out as planned. In fact, the plan may very well become outdated before we even start to execute it. And if we can't logically plan our way to success, then it must mean that success, when it happens, is a result of something unexpected—of something random. It is a revealing paradox. If Howard Schultz had never taken a stroll down a street in Milan and wandered into a café, Starbucks as we know it would probably never have happened. If Murray Sargent and Dave Weise hadn't happened to meet at a party on the Microsoft campus one night, the operating system we know as Windows would have been killed off—and most likely the PC revolution would not have happened as quickly, if at all. Yet, we resist this notion. We want to explain away success as being more than just good fortune or luck. Indeed, very few people I talked to had spent much time thinking deeply about how to incorporate randomness into their corporate or professional strategy. The reason seemed obvious: randomness defines the part of our lives that we can't control, so how can we rely on it? Simply put, randomness makes us stand apart. In The Click Moment, I talk about a number of different approaches for using randomness to our advantage. Here are a few of them:

1. Increase the number of click moments in our lives.

This is a lot easier than we think. Most of us, by nature, are creatures of habit. We like the familiar and avoid placing ourselves in uncomfortable positions. In a crowded room, we tend to gravitate toward the people we know, rather than striking up a conversation with a stranger. And we become so immersed in a certain path—or the momentum has driven us so far down it—that we're unwilling to question or take our eyes off it. Instead, change up your routine. Go to a different café. Read a magazine you otherwise never would. Talk to someone in the elevator, on the plane, or in the park—and go beyond the weather and your busy schedules. Surround yourself with people who are different from you, be it their backgrounds, their professions, their cultures. Embrace that diversity.