The five faces of Genius

Annette Moser-Wellman | March 07, 2006

Most managers believe that if they manage well they will succeed. But in raidly changing
mar!ets, being a good manager is less imortant than being an innovator. Those who can come
u with new ideas " those who can create " become the leaders of the organisation and the
industry.
#o, ersonal creativity is the s!ill we need the most but are taught the least. $id you have any
courses on how to be a creative thin!er% &f course not. Most of us live by the assumtion that
creativity is a gift one has or doesn't have. &ur formal education usually trains the creativity out of
us. (nd in business, being an innovator will be the ne)t core cometency " the essential caability
for success.
#o who do we model to hel us learn these necessary s!ills% *'ve sent my career studying
creativity in the arts and the sciences. +hen you loo! to some of the creative genius of our world,
you find atterns of thin!ing that can augment our lives and increase our robability of new ideas
in business.
Below is a framewor! of some of the most owerful s!ills in a creative genius and how the same
s!ills are used in business. * call them the five faces of genius.
The seer
+hen ainters begin to aint, they have an image in their mind's eye " an internal icture they
,see,. +hen musicians write music, they often have a musical score that aears in their mind.
The great writer -obertson $avies said, ,+hat aears in my head is a icture that somehow
must be considered., The visual stimulates the new idea.
(nd the same is true in business. Bill Gates said that the original vision for Microsoft was ,a ./
on every des! and in every home., *t was the image that created the future. +hen e)ecutives
meet in our wor!shos, they describe new roducts they see, new mar!eting ideas or even new
businesses. *deas come " not when we use our linear side but when we use our visual intuition.
The observer
Before -ay 0roc was the head of the Mc$onald's franchise, he was a mil!sha!e mi)er salesman.
+hen reviewing a list of clients, he noticed one small detail. &ne customer was buying enough
mil!sha!e mi)ers to ma!e 10 mil!sha!es at one time. This made 0roc curious.
2e traveled long distances to see the Mc$onald's restaurant. 2e was so imressed that he 3oined
the Mc$onald's family to build the franchise.
&bservers ay attention to small things and get big ideas from those details. 4ormer #ony
resident (!io Morita develoed the +al!"Man when he got the idea from a small thing he
noticed. $uring a arty for one of his teenagers, he saw that !ids were lugging heavy stereo
e5uiment from one room to the ne)t. Morito as!ed himself, ,+hat if music was ortable%, and
the +al!"Man was born.
The alchemist
$o you fre5uently as! yourself, ,where have * seen this roblem before%, The ,alchemist, uses
the world around them to come u with new ideas. .hysicists, for instance, find brea!through
theoretical ideas by creating analogies of the natural world.
6ou may use your alchemistic s!ill everyday and not !now it. Marlboro cigarettes was a
brainstorm of advertising guru, 7eo Burnett. Burnett was fliing through a maga8ine and
stumbled on a retrosective of the (merican cowboy. 2e connected the need to reosition the
cigarette with the love of the cowboy. *t was through this connection that the icon of one of the
world's biggest brands was born.
The fool
Most managers say, ,* don't want to be a fool9, but in fact the ,fool, is one of the most owerful
creative s!ills. (nd once you see it at wor! in business, you'll see why. The ,fool, !nows how to
invert roblems, ersevere when the going gets tough and isn't afraid to ursue absurd solutions.
&rah +infrey is arguably the most owerful business woman in the world. #he built her emire
with a ,fool, strategy. +hen she began her tal! show, other tal! show hosts were featuring
eole's roblems and ma!ing fun of each other.
&rah turned the model uside down and started focusing on the strength of the human sirit.
#he created a boo! club, a maga8ine and rogrammes that featured the ositive ower of
humanity.
The sage
2ave you ever wor!ed with someone who could ta!e comlicated information, synthesise it
5uic!ly and then come u with a great idea% That is the creative style of the ,sage,. ( seemingly
easy notion, but in ractice, very challenging. The design greats of the Bauhaus !new this best
with the motto, ,less is more,.
( erfect e)amle of the ,sage, at wor! would be the business genius of Michael $ell. .rior to
$ell comuters, you had to buy a comuter at a retail store. ( low"margin business, fraught with
tangled roblems, $ell simlified the route to mar!et. 2is idea in effect went straight to the heart
of the roblem and revolutionised the way we buy comuters.
.erhas you have seen yourself in the thin!ing styles above. &ur research has shown that highly
creative eole have the ability to use all five s!ills. :ust li!e turning a sar!ling diamond, the ne)t
generation manager will be able to turn a roblem in the mind and come u with new solutions
from at least five different angles.
Becoming a creative business erson, not merely a manager, re5uires a relentless ursuit of
innovation. *t means you will rioritise ideas and lace them at the centre of what you do
everyday. *t means you will not allow yourself to become distracted by day"to"day concerns and
miss the larger reason you are wor!ing for " creatively bring value to the firm. *t means you will
bring your genius to wor!.
;ach erson has been granted the gift of creativity " t is our own ersonal genius. +hen we
dedicate ourselves to using the full sectrum of our minds, we'll be surrised ourselves. <ot only
see our business grow, but we'll see our careers rise. (nd we will become the leaders the
business world is loo!ing for.
Annette Moser-Wellman is the president of FireMark, an innovation consultancy. he is the
author of The Five Faces of Genius and Creative Thinking Styles to Succeed at Work