Why Are Some Leaders More Inventive than Others?

“Fred” Smith, the founder, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx, showed keen interest in flying and eventually he became a Marine Corps pilot. Smith focused on aspects of aviation that most people take for granted. For instance, at night, when people weren’t flying, Smith noted many commercial jets parked in hangars. He brainstormed and came up with the idea to use idle jets to fly packages.

Smith took his idea one step further to create a college economics paper and outline plan: identify a central location with good weather, fly the packages there, exchange them and have the planes fly back “home” to drop off packages for delivery. The planes could then resume the job of transporting people. Although Smith's Yale professor awarded a “C” for the paper, Fred Smith saw an opportunity where no one else did. In 2007, FedEx Corporation’s sales topped $35 billion.

Why do some leaders invent or experience "aha" moments more than others? I'm curious... Are you? People who tend to solve problems with a sudden creative insight -- an "Aha! Moment" -- reveal a distinct pattern of brain activity, even at rest, according to recent neuroscience research. The researchers compared creators to people who tend to solve problems more methodically. Here's what they found...

Inventors and Creators Creative problem solvers in the study showed greater activity in regions of the right brain than more methodical people. In past research, right-brain involvement in processing loose or "remote" associations between elements was understood to be a key component of creative thought.

High Right Brain Activity Findings also reveal that inventive people experience greater right-brain activity during a "resting" state. Even the spontaneous thought of creative individuals, such as their daydreams, contains more of these remote associations. Hmm... are you a daydreamer?

More Visual Activity Additionally, creative solvers exhibited higher brainwave activity in areas of the brain that process visual information. The pattern of "alpha" and "beta" brainwaves in creative solvers was consistent with diffuse rather than methodical people's focused visual attention. Creative folks may broadly sample the environment for images that trigger remote associations leading to an Aha!

Methodical Problem Solvers In contrast, the more focused attention of methodical solvers reduces their distractibility. Such focus allows them to effectively solve problems for which the solution strategy is already known.

According to John Kounios, professor at Drexel, “Problem solving, whether creative or methodical, doesn’t begin from scratch when a person starts to work on a problem. His or her pre-existing brain-state biases a person to use a creative or a methodical strategy.”

Strategies for an inventive mindset Take on the mindset of an inventor

1. Focus more on creating solutions with the brain in mind
2. Set the stage for beauty in ways that offer opportunities for personal renewal
3. Learn from mistakes
4. Approach problems from the perspective of different intelligences
5. Doodle to picture concepts

What sparks an "aha" for you?