REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

REAPING THE WHIRLWIND 229

Creative people demonstrate some key characteristics:

• They are very inquisitive.


• They are also intuitive (intuition is just another form of reasoning,
  albeit one that depends on unusual channels of information).


• Their heightened intuition makes creative people very sensitive to
  stimuli around them. They notice things that would be uncon-
  sciously screened out by others. This is partly explained by the fact
  that they are able to handle cognitive complexity; they can visualize
  forests, and at the same time, recognize individual trees.


• Creative people recognize patterns where others hear cacophony.


• They internalize their impressions and make connections.


• There is a visionary element to their behavior. They are driven by
  a ‘ magnifi cent obsession ’ toward distant goals.


• They are persistent and compulsive, and not afraid to take risks.
  A lthough their work may seem ef for tless to an un in for med obser ver,
  it is often the outcome of a long series of advances and setbacks.


• Truly creative people are also very autonomous and independent,
  daring to be different. They do not feel a need to ‘ fi t in. ’


• Creative people are characterized by a high tolerance for ambigu-
  ity; they do not aim for premature closure. They can tolerate the
  tension and suspense that comes with leaving questions temporarily
  unresolved.


• Conversely, they are prone to anxiety, perhaps because they are
  always dissatisfi ed with what they produce.

As these characteristics show, the creative person is a paradox: a rebel
against conformity, but at the same time very attuned to whatever is
happening in the environment. Creative individuals are extremely sensi-
tive to the changing needs of their art or science. When there is dissat-
isfaction with the status quo, they are often the fi rst to recognize a need
for revision. Not only that, they do something about it. The truly crea-
tive person is like the Greek god Prometheus (whose name means ‘ wise
before the event ’ ). Creative people sometimes seem to have a form of
prophetic power to look into the future.
A number of researchers have shown that there is a higher degree
of mood disorders among creative people than is the case for the general
population ( Jamison, 1993 ; Hershman and Lieb, 1998 ). Interestingly,
the link between mood disorders and creativity may explain some of
the characteristics that contribute to extraordinary talent. Among other
things, people who suffer from mood disorders have a higher degree of
emotional reactivity — that is to say, they are highly sensitive to external