A song emerging from The Beatles during a late-night studio session—fragments swirling, colliding, fusing into something no single member could have written alone.

FC Barcelona’s hypnotic tiki-taka passing.

Pixar’s legendary Braintrust, where films like Toy Story and Finding Nemo took shape not from one auteur’s vision, but from a roomful of animators, writers, and directors building on one another’s sparks until a world came to life.

We often talk about flow—that state of individual immersion when time disappears. But what about Co-Flow—when a group magically locks in together, and what emerges can’t be traced to any single person?

I felt it just last week with my team at Platypus Labs, jamming on our 2026 plans. Ideas flew, intermingled, and built on each other, filling up “To-Test” lists with projects that no one could have dreamed up on their own.

It makes me wonder: Are we giving Co-Flow the attention it deserves? Are organizations creating space for it—or sacrificing it in the chase for individual achievement?

Here’s how I’m trying to nurture Co-Flow:

• Inviting collaboration into projects I might have once tackled solo
• Embracing a radical “yes, and” mindset, and resisting the urge to critique ideas too quickly
• Working from a place of joy, so others can too

I have some big ideas cooking around this concept, and I know that to bring them to life, I’ll need to invoke the awesome power of Co-Flow.

If you’ve got any examples of Co-Flow in action, I’d love to hear them.

To your creative success…

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About Josh

Josh Linkner is a New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, venture capital investor, professional jazz guitarist, and globally recognized innovation expert. To learn more or to explore a collaboration, visit JoshLinkner.com.