Frequently Asked Questions about Strategic Leadership and Creativity

	Have you or anyone else that you know done any research on what careers might provide the best fit for each of the eight creative talents?
	I would like to use the Breakthrough Creativity Profile with my team. Once they have all taken the profile, how can I best use the results?
	If you could have a 9th creative talent, what would it be?
	Why do leaders need to understand creativity and the eight creative talents?
	Are there any personal benefits for leaders from accessing their creativity?
	How can leaders identify the creative talents of their employees?
	What is the difference between creativity and innovation?
	How do the eight creative talents fit with the MBTI®?
	How can I use my knowledge of my creative talents to better manage stress?
	How can I identify my creative talents?

Q: I coach high school students and their parents through the process of selecting a potential career and college. I help the students discover their MBTI® profile and their Creative Talents through your book, Breakthrough Creativity. Thank you for this wonderful resource! Have you or anyone else that you know done any research on what careers might provide the best fit for each of the eight creative talents?

Keith White, Ph.D.
Certified Life Coach
Alta Loma, CA
keith@drkeithwhite.com

A: Thanks, Keith for your interesting question and comments! Here are my thoughts:

1. I hesitate in answering this question because I believe that with any set of talents, you can be anything you want to be. You will just be a different type of doctor, lawyer, social worker, business executive, teacher, writer, or artist. If you look at artists for example, you have Monet as a Navigator, Rembrandt also, possibly, but Picasso was probably more of an Explorer, and DaVinci perhaps a combination of Adventurer and Visionary (plus he had Navigator traits as well — those notebooks, for example!). The same is true for writers, Dickens and his details, James Joyce and his stream of consciousness are two examples. The same distinctions could play out with teachers. Pilots and Harmonizers, Inventors and Poets would all be very different types of teachers (unless the school system forced them to be just one type!). And all different types of teachers could be equally effective; they will just be different in the way they approach teaching.
   
   
2. At the same time, I tend to agree with the whole "Strengths" movement — at least to some degree, that it is best to find a spot where your talents are best used, if you can. So in that regard, there is a book which you may already know about by Tieger and Barron-Tieger, "Do What You Are" that outlines best job fits and the different approaches to job searches that the different personality types as defined by the MBTI® tend to follow. (You can do the translation to the Talents using that table on page 31 of my book Breakthrough Creativity).

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Q: I would like to use the Breakthrough Creativity Profile with my team. Once they have all taken the profile, how can I best use the results?

Senior Executive,
New York City

A: There are several ways you can use the Profile results with your team. The first which will help to improve the overall creativity of the team, is to have the team share their results and complete the Team Profile which is on page 12 of the "Breakthrough Creativity Profile Workbook." You can determine whether there are any talents that predominate or are missing on the team and then strategize on how to maximize the Team's Profile to get the best, most creative results from your team.

Next, you can use the results in individual coaching discussions with team members. These discussions can address whether the individual’s talents are being used to their best advantage and what can be done to address any talents that could be missing.

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Q: I am currently reading your book Breakthrough Creativity, which I find to be a nice new twist on the Myers-Briggs personality system. If you had your druthers and could have a 9th creative talent, what would it be? I couldn't help but think your book could be applicable to Enneagram's 9 types as well.

Author and Consultant,
Hyannis MA

A: Interesting question! I am not that familiar with the Enneagram but my memory of it is that it does not correlate with the Jungian personality types (and the MBTI®) because they each come from different perspectives and traditions. Jung's framework is based on the way we each take in and process data with each of four functions having one of two orientations. So it would not make sense from my perspective to force a ninth personality type (or corresponding Creative Talent) into Jung's model.

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Q: Why do leaders need to better understand creativity and the eight creative talents?

A: Issues of globalization, climate change, rapidly changing customer demands all call for new ways of addressing challenges, solving problems, and meeting customer needs. Leaders are faced with multiple dilemmas: keeping and developing good people, getting fast results, meeting customer needs — all with smaller budgets and shortened schedules. Leaders who recognize, appreciate and nourish individual differences in the contributions and problem solving styles of their team will see amazing results. They will uncover not only creative solutions and distinctive products, but also more productivity, lower staff turnover, and greater employee satisfaction

Most organizations are leaving a tremendous amount of human potential untapped because employees are not developed or appreciated. Recognizing talent and figuring out how to develop it are key challenges for organizations.

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Q: Are there any personal benefits for leaders from accessing their creativity? Especially in times of economic uncertainty, why bother worrying about personal creativity?

A: Further developing creative potential during times of stress and uncertainty is just as important as physical exercise for at least four major reasons:

1. A leader who knows how to be creative is more marketable. Leaders with good ideas and who can come up with new strategies for the future can write their own ticket.
2. Developing personal creativity builds confidence in leaders that they can handle the challenges life throws their way and gives them a deeper level of resilience to cope with constant change. Such confidence and resilience also lead to more openness to new ideas and questions from others. Seeing oneself as creative is vital for a healthy and productive life.
3. Understanding what tools and techniques enable a leader to tap into his or her creativity also speeds up the process of generating new ways of solving problems, seeing challenges, thinking, doing and feeling differently. When leaders know how they are creative and what they need to tap into their creativity, time no longer stands in the way of novel solutions and ideas.
4. Finally, leaders who know how they are creative and what can get in their way of optimal creativity are better equipped to further develop their creativity. Once leaders now what can be blocking them from being their creative best, they can start to take steps to eliminate those obstacles.

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Q: How can leaders identify the creative talents of their employees?

A: One way is to recognize that there is more than one way for individuals to be creative. It turns out that just as there are multiple forms of intelligence, there are multiple forms of creativity. And just as there is no one best way to lead, there is also no one right or best way to be creative, particularly if we define creativity as the ability to consciously produce different and valuable results. Using the model described in Breakthrough Creativity: Achieving Top Performance Using the Eight Creative Talents, leaders can help their employees identify their talents and then most importantly figure out what steps to take to develop these important talents and to allow them to flourish.

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Q: What is the difference between creativity and innovation?

A: There is a lot of confusion between creativity and innovation. In the United States at least, creativity is often used to mean "the generation of new and useful ideas," and innovation is often defined as "the adoption of new and useful ideas by people in organizations." However, there are a lot of other definitions of each, and these definitions can be confusing. After much research, I have come to see that creativity is "the individual's ability to consciously produce different and valuable results." Innovation, on the other hand, is "the organization's ability to leverage the creativity of its employees."

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Q: How do the eight creative talents fit with the MBTI®?

A: Both the Eight Creative Talents and the MBTI® are based on the work of Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung. However, the Eight Creative Talents are not the MBTI® all over again! A lot of individuals and teams may know their "type," but not be clear on what they need to do with that information to be more creative. The eight creative talents bring together a well-grounded theory of creativity with Jung's research on personality differences with the goal of helping everyone understand how to be more creative, effective and productive. In addition, the Breakthrough Creativity Profile is the only personality instrument (that I know of anyway!) to identify different creativity styles based on an inclusive definition of creativity.

In coming to appreciate the eight creative talents, it is also important to note that Jung believed that his model was not cast in stone. The Breakthrough Creativity Profile and the MBTI® like other instruments designed to measure personality don't necessarily capture the full richness of who you are. Family or work pressures, for example, force many of us to operate out of a substitute personality, and tests may not capture this situation. You don't want to label yourself; you want to use this information to grow. As one Jungian expert put it, Jung believed "that his model was useful, a practical way to orient ourselves, psychologically, as completely as when we locate a place geographically by latitude and longitude."

And Jung himself said:

"The four functions are somewhat like the four points of the compass; they are just as arbitrary and just as indispensable. Nothing prevents our shifting the cardinal points as many degrees as we like in one direction or the other, or giving them different names. It is merely a question of convention and intelligibility. But one thing I must confess: I would not for anything dispense with this compass on my psychological voyages of discovery."

Finding your creative talents is a first step on this voyage!

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Q: How can I use my knowledge of my creative talents to better manage stress?

A: During times of stress, you first need to be able to quickly to recognize signs of stress. Not surprisingly these signs of stress can vary by talent and, of course, by individual. Typical signs of stress fall into two categories:

1. An exaggeration of your favorite talent. Examples: Your Adventurer talent can cause you to become obsessed with enjoying the moment and fail to face reality. Your Navigator talent can obsess over details and making sure everything is in its place, and fail to see the big picture. Your Explorer talent can be so concerned about brainstorming future possibilities and ignore critical facts about today. And your Visionary talent can tend to come up with all sorts of dire visions of the future. Your Pilot talent can rush to take action and control, and ignore collecting enough information. Your Harmonizer talent may focus all attention on everyone else, and, like your Pilot talent, want to control and fail to collect enough information. Your Inventor talent can get you caught up in mental gyrations and analysis paralysis. Your Poet talent can obsess about finding the deeper meaning behind everything.

2. On the other hand, you can become the worst of your opposite talent. For example, your Adventurer and Navigator talents can become focused on all sorts of dire possibilities about the future. Your Explorer talent can have you obsessing over every little detail, and your Visionary talent can cause you to overindulge in the sensuousness of life. Your Pilot talent can become obsessed with the meaning of existence; and your Inventor talent may cause you to get caught up in raw emotions. Your Harmonizer talent can become obsessed with internal "if-then" type logic, and your Poet talent can uncharacteristically become critical of others and try to control every little thing.

After recognizing the signs of stress, whether they follow the above pattern or not, what can you do? Here are some ideas about managing stress creatively:

	Take a deep breath and then... .
	Make sure you are using your auxiliary talent to collect more information if your favorite/dominant talent is a decision-making talent (such as the Pilot, Harmonizer, Inventor or Poet) or to take some action if your favorite or dominant talent is a data-collection talent (such as the Adventurer, Navigator, Explorer or Visionary).
	Try playing with one of the other talents that you are less familiar with and you may find yourself being surprisingly inspired with some alternative courses of action.
	If you tend to keep your stress to yourself, find someone to talk to. If you tend to let everyone know about your stress, try to find some alone time.
	Take a bath, go for a walk, put on some soothing music, light a candle, pray, or practice some other form of relaxation.

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Q: How can I identify my creative talents?

A: One very effective way is to follow the steps outlined in Breakthrough Creativity: Achieving Top Performance Using the Eight Creative Talents. The model described in the book gives you a structured way of identifying your talents, figuring out what can be getting in your way, and learning many important tools and techniques for achieving your creative best. "The Breakthrough Creativity Profile" is another helpful way to identify your favorite talents.

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