A No Baselines Approach to Breakthrough Ideas

George Newman’s How Great Ideas Happen earns its place in the no baselines recommended library because it dismantles one of the most persistent baselines in modern thinking: that creativity is rare, internal, and reserved for a gifted few. Drawing on behavioral science, historical cases, and empirical research, Newman reframes creativity as a process of discovery rather than invention. Great ideas are not lightning strikes; they are the result of structured exploration, incremental adjustment, and sustained engagement with existing material. That shift, moving creativity from mystique to method, is foundational to no baselines thinking.

At the core of the book is a disciplined rejection of extremes. Newman shows that breakthrough ideas are rarely radical departures; they typically contain only a small amount of novelty layered onto something familiar. This five percent novelty insight aligns directly with the no baselines belief that progress comes from optimizing within reality rather than fantasizing beyond it. By emphasizing proximity over originality, Newman challenges the assumption that differentiation requires distance. Instead, he shows that the most valuable ideas often sit uncomfortably close to what already exists, waiting for the right adjustment.

Finally, How Great Ideas Happen reframes refinement as subtraction, not addition. Newman shows that improvement usually comes from removing what does not serve the core purpose rather than layering on more complexity. Creativity, in this view, is not expressive excess but disciplined clarity. The result is a grounded, repeatable framework for thinking better, one that strips away romantic myths and replaces them with tools. No genius required. Just attention, effort, and the willingness to dig.