There are many interesting facts about Albert Einstein. One of them is that he did not in fact fail maths at school. He was an impudent scholar for sure, but he was almost always top of his class. Perhaps the most significance life fact is that he generated his most telling theories in a 7 year period during which he was not an academic. Instead, he was employed as a patent officer in the Swiss Patent Office where he assessed applications.

Einstein would finish his day’s work within a few hours and spend the rest of the time “hatching [his] most beautiful ideas”. His desk would be littered with papers containing scribbles that he would stuff into his desk drawer when colleagues would come by. His boss over looked this. His work was being done.

Being outside of the academic institution allowed Einstein to develop ideas that would not have been received well from within the institution, as they were both critical and contrary to currently held theories.

So, if you are wondering how to spurn a culture of innovation in your company, take a lesson from Einstein. Put your employees (or at least some of them) into cubicles, give them repetitive work that they can finish in a few hours and then let them play.