Think about the last time something genuinely surprised you. Maybe it was a shocking sports upset, a wild plot twist in a film that made you gasp, or maybe just bumping into an old friend in a city hundreds of miles from home. That feeling, the sudden jolt where the world doesn’t quite work the way you thought it should, is a powerful and sometimes disturbing experience. The word “unexpected” creates a potent image. It speaks of a deviation from the anticipated, a disruption of the familiar rhythms of life. But the unexpected is more than just a momentary surprise; it is a fundamental engine of change, a relentless shaper of our history and culture.From the battlefield to the laboratory, the political arena to the sports stadium, we see critical events shaped by the unexpected.
We spend most of our lives trying to plan, predict, and control what happens next. But the truth is, the most important, game-changing moments in our lives are often the ones that come completely out of the blue. The unexpected isn’t just an interruption to the story; it is the story. Life’s most important moments are the ones we never see coming
Fundamentally the unexpected is a direct challenge to our brains, which are basically prediction machines. Day in and day out, our minds build little models of reality, learning that if you do A, then B will happen. But when C happens instead, it throws a spanner in the works. This can be scary, like in a “black swan” event, a term coined by writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb for huge, shocking events like a global pandemic or a stock market crash that no one saw coming, but which everyone tries to explain in hindsight as if they were obvious. But it can also be wonderful. That jolt of surprise is where creativity, learning, and real change are born. It forces us to stop, look around, and consider fresh possibilities.
Science
In the world of science, the unexpected is often the guest who gives. We think of scientists as methodical geniuses, but many of our biggest breakthroughs have come from pure, dumb luck combined with a curious mind. The most famous examples is Alexander Fleming who returned from holiday in 1928 to find a petri dish with a mould which was resistant to bacteria. He had stumbled upon penicillin.
A similar thing happened with the discovery of the Big Bang’s afterglow. Two astronomers, Penzias and Wilson, kept picking up a faint, annoying hiss on their radio antenna. They tried everything to get rid of it, even cleaning out pigeon droppings they thought might be the cause. It turns out that hiss wasn’t bird poop; it was cosmic microwave background radiation, the leftover heat from the creation of the universe. They had accidentally stumbled upon the proof of the Big Bang.
In November 1963, the crew of a fishing trawler off the coast of Iceland witnessed a shocking sight they mistook for a boat on fire. It was, in fact, something far more elemental: the birth of an island. A powerful, completely unexpected volcanic eruption had begun on the seabed, violently spewing ash and lava into the cold Atlantic. Within days, the accumulating material breached the surface, forming a new landmass. The eruption continued for over three years, building an island that was named Surtsey, after the fire giant Surtr from Norse mythology.2This surprising geological event provided a priceless opportunity. From its sterile, fiery birth, scientists have been able to meticulously document the arrival of life. Surtsey became a unique natural laboratory, offering a real-time window into how plants, insects, and birds colonise a brand-new piece of earth, a process that continues to offer unexpected insights today.
Business
The business world is just as vulnerable to big surprises. For most of the 20th century, Kodak was photography. They sold the film, the paper, and the cameras. They were a giant. Ironically, they even invented the first digital camera back in 1975. But the executives couldn’t imagine a world without film, their main cash cow. They saw digital as a cute toy that would never have the quality of film. But it became a revolution. Kodak, the giant, went bankrupt.
Many business innovations and discoveries were the results of happy accidents. Viagra and Post-it Notes spring to mind. Both are mentioned in more detail later in the book.
Summary
While we continue to make our plans and fill our diaries, it’s worth remembering that life’s most profound and defining moments will likely be the ones we never anticipated. The unexpected is what keeps us on our toes. It’s what fuels innovation, sparks revolutions, and creates the legends we tell for generations. It’s the universe’s way of reminding us that the best parts of the story are the ones that haven’t been written yet.
The unexpected is not a mere footnote to human progress; it is an integral and essential propulsive force. By disrupting our plans, challenging our assumptions, and forcing us to adapt, unexpected events can be the catalysts for profound transformations.
How can we harness the power of the unforeseen? How can we prepare for or even encourage the unexpected? In my new book I will try to show you how.