Rotman Magazine Winter 2011 / 89

//// Questions for:

Michael Gelb
Some advice from the man
who has taught Nike, IBM
and Microsofts leaders
how to think like
Leonardo Da Vinci.
Interview by Stephen Watt
Q
&A
You have closely studied the thinking processes of great
thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci. What can we learn from
his example?
Not surprisingly, da Vinci is a supreme role model for creative
thinking. Considered perhaps the greatest genius who ever
lived, he was not only a pioneer in Biology, Botany, Geology
and Anatomy, but is renowned as one of the greatest ne
artists ever, in part because he integrated scientic and artis-
tic ways of thinking. There are other great scientists who have
had some artistic ability, and there are great artists whove
dabbled in Science, but no one has integrated the two as thor-
oughly as da Vinci.
For me, he was a childhood hero, and the more I learned
about him, the more he seemed to embody the very essence of
human potential. My close study of his notebooks, his words
and his actions has allowed me to uncover seven principles for
thinking like him. The rst principle is to have never-ending
curiosity, and to always ask compelling questions. This sets the
stage for the second principle, which is to become an original
thinker. Doing so requires the third principle, sharpening of the
senses. If you are adopting that principle and are keenly attuned
to your surroundings, the result is often confusion and uncer-
tainty, especially in todays chaotic environment. For that
reason, you need the fourth principle, which is to thrive in the
face of ambiguity.
The way out of ambiguity to clarity takes us to the fth
principle: to think using the whole brain, integrating art and sci-
ence, logic and imagination, intuition and reason. Using the
whole brain requires energy, bringing us to the sixth principle:
to balance body and mind, and the seventh, to connect every-
thing to everything else by being a systems thinker. In business,
this means formulating your vision, your mission and your val-
ues and transforming them into a compelling strategy;
choosing the appropriate tactics; hiring people who share your
vision and values; training and developing them to manifest the
strategy, and providing the right incentives and compensation
so that they maintain that alignment. The job of a leader is to
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90 / Rotman Magazine Winter 2011
If you cant give a compelling version
of your opponents argument, you really havent
thought through your own position.
can learn anything you want to is the most powerful knowledge
out there.
What is meta thinking, and how can we use it to become more
effective problem solvers?
Meta thinking is thinking about thinking. It entails an under-
standing that thinking has many variations and is a skill that we
can develop. Unfortunately, most of us have not been trained in
the art of thinking. I say art because there are many different
kinds: there is thinking that involves laying out data and being
as objective as possible; there is thinking that involves looking
for new ideas, which we call divergent or generative thinking;
there is thinking that involves critiquing ideas and looking for
the weaknesses in a proposal; and there is self-reection, similar
to emotional intelligence, which allows us to examine our own
feelings and prejudices about a given idea. The best thinkers can
move quickly and appropriately through the different modes as
required by a situation. When you train a team to do this, sud-
denly everyone appears smarter!
Meta thinking is part of what a university is supposed to
teach. If you cannot give a compelling version of your oppo-
nents argument, you really have not thought through your own
position. Da Vinci counseled that we look at everything
through a minimum of three perspectives. Look at your own
perspective, an alternative perspective, and then nd a third
alternative perspective, and view them all with an open mind.
Only then can you say that you have actually thought about
something. You dont have to be a transformational genius to
practice meta thinking: you can bring just a touch of genius to
what you do every day by following these techniques.
Is it possible to extricate our emotions from our thoughts?
The answer is no, and when you think you have done so is often
when you get into trouble. However, we can become aware of
how our emotions are affecting our thinking, and as we do so,
we can become more free to consider other options and make
a wiser decision. In my consulting practice I work with phar-
macologists and engineers brilliant people who often suffer
from the illusion that, because of their training and discipline,
they are objective. People who work in technically-demanding
industries tend to be the most unconscious of the ways emo-
tion drives their conclusions.
look for connections and disconnects between the organiza-
tions vision and values, and what is happening at the
workplace every day; to nd the most salient points of leverage
and to make adjustments on a continuing basis.
Which of the seven principles is the most important in todays
environment?
All seven are essential, because they form a system. For me, the
principle that is most lacking in the business world is the fth
one: using the whole mind. At many business schools, students
learn a range of brilliant left-hemisphere strategies, but they
pretty much have their intuition beaten out of them. Its been
said of Thomas Edisonthat if he got his MBA, he would prob-
ably have tried to invent a bigger candle. A study of business
people conducted three decades ago showed that their num-
ber-one regret was all the times they failed to listen to their
intuition. In fact, this is many peoples biggest regret, not just
business people. That doesnt mean we should pull out the
Ouija board and start doing sances. Intuition is something we
can learn to cultivate by accessing the incubatory mode of
thinking and integrating that with the analytical processes that
are more commonly taught at business schools.
As people get older, they tend to become narrower and to
focus on a limited range of interests and activities. Why do
we fail to keep learning new things?
Fear, habit and ignorance. Many people are simply not aware
that we are designed to go on learning throughout our lives.
We grow up with this mythical notion that education ends
when we nish school, and we form habits and become self
limiting. The rst step to developing our potential is to under-
stand that we are designed to go on learning throughout our
lives. There is a denite art to learning how to learn. My new
book [coming out in March of 2011] focuses on how to
improve the mind as we get older. It is a little-known fact that
adults actually learn language faster and more effectively than
children. Most adults dont believe this is true, which creates a
negative, self-fullling prophecy. But studies show that if you
combine adult cognitive development, our understanding of
grammar, syntax and vocabulary, with the openness of a child
if you are playful and unworried about making mistakes you
will learn dramatically faster and better. Recognizing that you
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What are some of the common characteristics of creative
thinking?
There is a universal process of creativity that is like the ow of
the tide: it goes in and out. The mind starts in a state of expan-
siveness, intuition and incubation, but in order to experience
true creativity, we must move into the analytical, logical and
practical modality. One of the myths of creativity is that it is a
function of the brains right hemisphere; in fact it is a function
of both left and right, integrated and in harmony.
The aha moment of pure creativity only comes after
intensive and focused work and even when it does come, it is
usually unexpected. Albert Einstein had his key insight into
the Theory of Relativity when he was closing his eyes and imag-
ining the experience of riding on a sunbeam out into the
universe. Sir Isaac Newton had his revelation about optics
when he saw some light reecting on crystals, creating a rain-
bow. The discovery of the structure of the benzene ring came
as the German chemist Friedrich August Kekul was nap-
ping in front of his replace (and there is some debate whether
he was aided by a couple of good brandies.) Whether the inno-
vation is in science or business, aha moments tend to come in
moments of relaxation more likely in a park or on the sofa
than in the laboratory.
What people forget is, that moment never would have hap-
pened if there wasnt rst intensive, disciplined, focused work
going on for a considerable period. Furthermore, the creativity
never would have been realized if, after the aha moment, the
genius didnt have the training, discipline and skill to translate
that leap of the imagination into the language of science, tech-
nology or business. It is the harmony between the receptive,
intuitive mode and the active, driving, practical mode that
yields creativity: the harmony and the creativity are universal;
but the way people manifest it is highly individualized.
How can we apply your insights to our personal and profes-
sional lives?
We are all familiar with the wisdom of sleeping on a problem.
The leaders I work with report that they are far more produc-
tive when they walk away from a complex challenge after rst
studying it intently. In the sessions I lead, I always schedule a
period of overnight reection, but prior to that, I usually have
participants do something out of the ordinary, like write poet-
ry over a glass of wine. Typically they come back the next day
and are surprised to nd that they are much more effective
and productive than they would have been otherwise. Instead
of having their aha moment on the plane ride back from the
conference when it is too late, they have an opportunity to
share their insight with the people who can benet from it the
most. It takes foresight to build such downtime into the
process, especially in business, since the general view is that
breaks are for sissies, and you have to be serious and miser-
able to get any real work done. These ideas are nonsense of
course, but they are still prevalent.
You portray some of the greatest geniuses of history as
real human beings with real weaknesses. What is the les-
son for the rest of us?
Most of us are all-too-aware of our own weaknesses, but for-
tunately, you dont need to be perfect in order to be highly
creative. A good rst step is to surround yourself with role
models. We see modeling at all stages of life. Consider how a
baby duck imitates its mother, and then watch a family in a
shopping mall: the posture of the parents is reected in that
of the children. What distinguishes humans from other ani-
mals is that as we get older, we can choose who we want to
consciously imitate. If you are interested in creativity and
high performance, or in the full expression of your potential,
it makes sense to choose the most inspiring and brilliant of
role models. At the same time, it is comforting to realize that
they all made mistakes and had weaknesses, and you dont
have to be perfect to follow their example and access your
own creativity.
Michael Gelb is a writer and trainer who specializes in the elds of creative
thinking, accelerated learning and innovative leadership. He has 30 years of
experience as a consultant to organizations such as Nike, Merck, IBM and
Microsoft. His best-selling books include Discover Your Genius: How to Think
Like Historys Ten Most Revolutionary Minds (HarperCollins, 2002) and How to
Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci (Delacorte, 1998).
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