The Five Faces of Genius [Hardcover]

Annette Moser-Wellman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2001

An essential primer of creative thinking techniques for success in today's new economy-and beyond.

What do Mozart, da Vinci, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, have in common? They have all mastered skills of creative genius.

As the face of business rapidly changes and traditional models become obsolete overnight, companies are no longer looking for business managers who are experts at the system. They need people who can use their creativity to constantly reinvent the system. They want business artists.

Annette Moser-Wellman identifies five common creative styles or Faces of Genius: the Seer, the Observer, the Alchemist, the Fool, and the Sage. By using examples from geniuses old and new, she breaks down each face into specific techniques and provides exercises that anyone can use immediately to begin to think more creatively. The Five Faces of Genius teaches business professionals how to develop the creative skills necessary for success by emulating the techniques of past and present geniuses in the arts, sciences, and business.

Business geniuses and the "faces" they've used:

• Seer Ray Kroc envisioned a world lined with McDonald's franchises.
• Observer Howard Schulz brought Starbucks to the world after he noticed how much gourmet coffee a small store in Seattle was selling.
• Alchemist Mickey Drexler took the Coca-Cola idea of ubiquity and used it for Gap stores.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Creativity and business have long enjoyed an uneasy alliance, with the latter more dependent on the former than it usually cares to admit. In The Five Faces of Genius, however, Annette Moser-Wellman builds a compelling case for creativity as the true force behind business and lays out ways in which it can be harnessed to even greater advantage. Moser-Wellman, president of a consulting firm that advocates just such an approach, breaks down the "thinking skills" of inventive masters like Mozart and Da Vinci into five types--Seer, Observer, Alchemist, Fool, and Sage--and then explains how readers can use the same processes in their own careers. "I discovered that the creative mind is the same no matter where you find it," she writes. "It took the same skills for Robert Frost to write a poem or for Bob Dylan to write a ballad as it did for Howard Schultz to create the idea for the Starbucks empire."

Following an exercise that helps readers determine their own creative strengths and weaknesses, Moser-Wellman goes into detail on each of her five traits and offers concrete suggestions for integrating them into the corporate environment. As epitomized by Ray Kroc of McDonald's, for example, Seers can learn to "create a plethora of possible business solutions and to predict the uncharted territory of their industry and company." By combining real-world examples and implementation ideas with her own incisive perspective, Moser-Wellman provides advice that should appeal to anyone who believes there is more to a job than uninspired, rote behavior. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

Moser-Wellman, a Seattle consultant whose clients include Starbucks and Coca-Cola, believes that creative genius is behind business success stories from McDonald's to Amazon.com, and is a business's most valuable asset in times of great change. While acknowledging that each of us expresses creativity differently, she argues that there are five principles that the most successful creative thinkers have mastered and that the rest of us can learn and profit from. In Moser-Wellman's rendering, these principles are types of "genius," embodied in the Seer, who can visualize a problem; the Observer, who meticulously notes important details; the Alchemist, who can find connections between seemingly unrelated domains; the Fool, who can find a breakthrough solution by persevering and turning weaknesses into opportunities; and the Sage, who can find answers by reducing a problem to its simplest form. To help readers identify their natural creative strengths, she provides a survey with 40 engaging questions (e.g., "If I were on the show Seinfeld, I would likely be cast as a) Jerry Seinfeld b) Kramer"). Less a programmatic regimen than a provocative roster of creative approaches, this compelling book offers plenty of insights for those open to them.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1st edition (March 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067089477X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670894772
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,588,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breath of Fresh Air in a Very Tired Workplace, April 8, 2001

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Five Faces of Genius (Hardcover)

This book will be helpful to every knowledge worker--the title should not scare off the 99% of the population that does not qualify for "genius" status.

Certainly there will be those looking for some magical way to lift themselves from obscurity, or lethargy, or oppression, that that think they are unappreciated geniuses and are simply looking for the window-dressing they need to be recognized. This book is not for them.

What this book does, in a very nice way that reminds one of Drucker's belief that the best work is work as a "calling"--work as a beloved endeavor that brings out the best we have to offer--or of the 7 Habits book that emphasizes the urgency of protecting those activities that are important but not urgent (things like family time, exercise, and freedom from the telephone--or now, email)--is "review the bidding" on five different workstyles, and how to make them better.

In a nutshell, this book is what results when Myers-Briggs and 7 Habits have children, and the children grow up to be artists. It is a good read, and at a minimum it will help *anybody* bring more reflection and more peace back into their daily work routine.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening & refreshing. Creativity unmasked!, March 23, 2001

By 

"mas_attic" (Trenton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Five Faces of Genius (Hardcover)

I write for a living but before I read this book I never thought about how I got my creative inspiration. I had no idea what process my mind used to arrive at ideas. This book is very revealing in that respect. I now understand there are 5 different thinking styles, or "faces of genius," and where I fit in. I'm a fool, which at first seemed like the LAST thing I wanted to be. But the truth is, fools have a very strong creative streak. (Think of your favorite comedian and you're probably thinking of a fool.) But what I loved more than learning about my own style of thinking was discovering the styles employed by other creative people. The test in the book revealed me to be very weak in the Observer area (using details as inspiration) and the exercises in the book gave me a few tools to use when I get stuck using my tried and true creative approach. I applied the approach to refine an idea I just couldn't make work, and it clicked! I also enjoyed reading about the Sage face. This is someone who really knows how to simplify things. (Think "editor.") The other 2 faces, the Seer and the Alchemist, were intriguing as well. In fact, I think my understanding of these thinking styles will help me not only get different ideas, but help me learn how to offer them up to people in the right way (by taking into consideration their thinking styles). This is a great book for those who work in a creative field or anyone who wants to reignite their own creativity anywhere in their life.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My New Communication Bible, August 3, 2001

By 

Amanda Pagoulatos (Montreal, QUEBEC, CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Five Faces of Genius (Hardcover)

Few times in my life have I picked up a book that was so insightful, so readable and so true that I have recommended it to almost everyone I have come into contact with. It has changed my whole outlook on understanding how to take my ideas and develop them simply by looking at them from a variety of facets and by asking the right questions.

This book has also helped me cope with people I once perceived as difficult to get through to. I have since been able to 'read' my coworkers in such a way that every exchange ends positively, not at a cross-roads like before.

Great for business, indispensable for life.