Learning The Art And Science Of Serendipity For Impact Driven Entrepreneurs - Dr. Christian Busch of New York University & London School of Economics

Serendipity doesn’t equate to luck, but it can be considered smart luck, and this is something Dr. Christian Busch explains to us today. Christian is a renowned author, professor, researcher, and co-founder of Leaders on Purpose and Sandbox Network, two well-known communities for impact-driven leaders. As an authority in purpose-driven leadership and impact entrepreneurship, Christian shares his insights on serendipity, finding the meaning of life, and how anyone, including entrepreneurs, can leverage their knowledge and serendipity to make an even bigger impact in this world.

The main focus of this episode is Christian’s book, The Serendipity Mindset, which offers practical advice for entrepreneurs and changemakers to use science and serendipity to change the way they live and see the world, and it’s definitely worth a read. It was a great conversation with Christian, and he asked thought-provoking questions and gave helpful tips that may guide you on your entrepreneurial journey or simply in your journey through life. You won’t want to miss this episode.

Christians’ key lessons and quotes from this episode were:

• “The most purpose-driven inspiring people, they seem to have something in common, which is that they somehow intuitively cultivate serendipity… how can we develop communities, mindsets, and companies that allow us to have more of this unexpected good luck?” (5:19)
• “Serendipity is about smart luck. It's about the luck we create ourselves through our own actions in how we react to the unexpected or how we create the unexpected. It's either making accidents meaningful or creating meaningful accidents.” (8:09)
• “Do you let the situation define you, or do you try to define the situation? In terms of this whole idea that, yes, we cannot always pick the situation we're in, but we can always pick our response to it.” (46:10)
• “How do you bring the best out of people and out of yourself so that when you are on your deathbed, you're saying, "Okay, well, it was worth it"?” (53:30)

In this episode, we also talked about:

• What is serendipity? (7:57)
• The intersection between serendipity and impact (17:20)
• The importance of having a North Star (23:38)
• The government’s role is pushing society towards more serendipity (30:41)
• Victor Frankl’s lessons that Christian has taken to heart (46:04)