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Isn’t Invention the REAL Genius?

Writer's picture: Ajarn Mark CaldwellAjarn Mark Caldwell

Updated: Mar 15, 2024



Are you an Idea Man or Woman? Do you have great ideas all the time?


Do you get excited when presented with a blank sheet of paper and asked to create something new?


Or maybe you carry around a notebook (or voice recorder) full of great ideas.


"What if you mix the mayonnaise in the can, WITH the tuna fish? Or... hold it! Chuck! I got it! Take LIVE tuna fish, and FEED 'em mayonnaise! Oh this is great." -- Michael Keaton as Bill Blazejowski in Night Shift, 1982

You might have the Working Genius of Invention.


Invention (the second of the Six Types of Working Genius...remember WIDGET) is the one most people immediately recognize and accept as being a genius.  Inventors, especially in the United States, are lionized as examples of great intelligence and creativity.  The results of their work are so visible.


But the other five geniuses are just as important, if more subtle.


What will the inventor create without the prompting of the Wonderer? It could be anything! It may not be useful!


And without Discernment, the invention may address the big question, but not quite satisfy the needs of the customer, or may turn out to have a glaring hole.


It is tempting to think that the invention is the magic in a business.  After all, we have large sections of law around patents to protect inventions.


However, every one of us could probably come up with the name of a company that created something new, but went out of business or the product just failed.  Sony Betamax, anyone?  Or if that goes too far back, how about the Microsoft Zune?


Ever hear of a concept called Product-Market fit?

People who have the genius of invention often already know it, and so do the people around them.


You can probably guess the crave and crush of the Inventor.  They crave Freedom, the blank slate that others find intimidating is an open invitation to the inventor.  Likewise, too many constraints put on them in the beginning is crushing to their spirit.


Image showing the crave of Inventors is Freedom and the Crushed By is Constraint

If your team is lacking in people with the genius of Invention, they may be able to execute with precision, but get stuck doing the same old thing over and over.  Innovation suffers and it's hard to get anything new started.


On the other hand, if your company is overloaded with inventors, you likely can't break out of the ideation phase and actually drive anything to conclusion.


If the Genius of Wonder flies at the 30,000-foot level, Invention is just below it at about 25,000 feet.  You're making progress toward landing the plane, but you've got a lot more to do.


Thankfully, there are four more geniuses still to come to help get you safely back on the ground and delivering results on the great ideas that were generated.

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