Finding the Hidden
Innovators In Your
Company
Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas
Edison and the rest of us
By Susan Robertson
Most people who work in a corporate environment
are familiar with some type of personal style
indicator — Meyers Briggs Type Indicator, Strengths
Finder, DISC profile, and many others. However, there’s
a less well-known one that’s particularly relevant and
useful in innovation and it is specific to your creative
thinking style.
At the heart of creativity and innovation is problem
solving. Since all humans problem-solve, by
definition, all humans are creative. However, we each
go about our problem-solving in our own preferred
style, and society has come to label only one style
as being “creative” – the style called “Innovator” on
this assessment.
Think of Leonardo da Vinci as an extreme
example of that Innovator style. He was an idea
machine, constantly jumping around in numerous
disciplines—including art, cartography, anatomy,
botany, astronomy, geology, and others. Many
of his ideas were truly ground-breaking. He
conceptualized a helicopter, a tank, a calculator,
and concentrated solar power. He even outlined a
rudimentary theory of plate tectonics.
Thomas Edison is a great example of a creative
thinker with an Adaptive style. He held more than
1,000 US patents. However, many of the products he
patented, perfected, and commercialized were not
originally conceptualized by him. For example, he did
not actually invent the light bulb, he developed a light
bulb that was practical. He was able to improve, fix,
optimize, and operationalize ideas better than perhaps
anyone else in history.
Creativity Style Characteristics
It is important to note that your thinking style is
an indicator of preference, not of ability. Any of
us can think and behave in another style—and we all
do it effectively when we recognize it’s needed. But
we go back to our preferred style as soon as we can.
It’s where we’re most comfortable and probably where
we’re most consistently successful.
The chart below illustrates some key traits of extreme
Adaptors and extreme Innovators.
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