Customer Reviews

The Five Faces of Genius

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

In the business world, we are often stuck in a set way of creating solutions. This book teaches you look at that process. Through example, the author shows how visualizing success, pondering what is missing in an equation, adding two things together to make something better, stumbling accross something new and looking back to the past for solutions for the future can all lead to genius. This is a very rough account of how Annette Moser-Wellman spins a complicated web about real life wizards that have changed not only the business landscape but the way we view the world. She looks at the strategies men like Ray Kroc, Walt Disney and Alfred Nobel employed and the tools they used to achieve where no one else had acheived. It is also a guide for how to act and view the business world every day. I read it and started seeing my own creative process differently. Can you ask anything more from a book?

This book, The Five Faces of Genius, is destined to make a difference, and become a "profitable experience" for anyone who reads it. It stimulates the imagination, which leads to ideas and concepts, which guide us to policies and programs, which generate strategies and tactics, which result in new products and services. The next thing you know, you have profits.

Listen to the writer, Robinson Davies (p.23) describing his inspirational moments: "An idea for a novel seizes me and will not let me go. What often appears in my head is a picture which somehow must be considered." Now, that happens to all of us. But, we need to learn how to act on those inspirational moments. This book teaches us how. Goethe's quote (p.193) is timely and has encouraged many of us to take action. It is at the heart of great leadership and magnificent results: "If you can imagine it, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it." We should especially heed this advice during the current economic slump. It looks like the company, Agilent, did. The HP spinoff and maker of test and measurement equipment recently declared it would do something different to save money. It will cut the salaries of all 48,000 employees by 10% to avoid layoffs. This is an imaginative way to deal with economic hard times. It's also the "HP Way" - respect the individual. How to achieve this type of creative and positive response is all explained in the book. Finally, a third example that "exploded off the page" as I read the book are the Exercises found in each chapter. When you complete them you should submit them to your employer. They might become "the fuel that lights a fire" under your business.

This stuff works! Just read about the companies and people who have improved their lot. The author has identified 204 specific examples of individuals and organizations to make her point as to "the Skills needed to Master Ideas at Work." Heck, that's probably more than the number you would learn about at a good, four year college. And, this 208 page book can be read in a few hours.

In the Bible, Philippians 4:8, St. Paul urges us to think about "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." This book induces me to do just that. It seduces my senses. The author, Annette Moser-Wellman, knows what she is talking about. Can you define and dominate a market niche with your product or service? Read this book to find out how.

The author has imagined, noticed detail, connected domains, celebrated weakness, and simplified throughout her life. With this book she has brought the reader into "the company of the creative." Take advantage of her counsel. Discover the "seer, observer, alchemist, and sage" that lies within you. If you don't at least glance through this book, you're "a fool."

For "one shinning moment" then, be "a deer caught in the headlights of a passing car." Pause, in your life, read this book, and let the creative juices flow. Solve some problems in new, exciting, and imaginative ways. Then write the author, and thank her for encouraging you to be creative, improving the quality of your life, and increasing the productivity and profitability of your enterprise. Who knows, maybe someday you'll create a new "soft-chip technology" that eliminates cancer. This book is a wonderful, stimulating read. Enjoy it.

Yes, we know we need a great team to compete successfully, but that's easier said than done! We need a way to determine the members' strengths and weaknesses as they apply to analyzing problems and formulating new ideas. The Five Faces of Genius provides a quick assessment of individual thinking types with full explanations of each(good aspects, as well as pitfalls in processing). Each member can learn about himself, the other team players, and what to do with this new information as it applies to the group. What I found most refreshing was the concept that while it is nice to understand one's own way of thinking and creating, it is quite possible, even necessary,to try to personally develop new ways to formulate ideas.Also,knowledge about fellow workers' untapped abilities might just foster encouragement by staff of each other. Managers would do well to use this tool to understand the staff they supervise and allow each member to then do what he does best for the good of the whole! This is a gem.

Sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer rightly recommended that I purchase this incisive landmark, thinking-outside-of-the-box book(written in 2001) which I see as a prelude to Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind". The author writes of a future business renaissance married to artistry. I actually give "The Five Faces of Genius" the 4 1/2 stars it importantly deserves, even though I have a healthy amount of fair criticism for it!...Innovative Business Design IS indeed about 2 become trendy; but in my opinion, any artsies dreaming for the day when the world will be ruled by "Business Artists" are in for a Fool's awakening!

Moser Wellman is an alchemist and she has used every other self help book to write this book. It is a book based on well worn concepts with a feeble attempt at reinvention. The concept once know as thinking out of the box is now known as the "fool." The only positive is that her book is better than her personal instructional seminars.