There are two fronts at which I work as a hunter of genius:
1st the individual - to discover, develop and define the vision of the visionary so they can apply their genius in the world.
Too many brilliant ones find themselves frustrated and working at a fraction of their capacity; or worse yet, surrender to being cubicle slaves (even if the handcuffs are platinum). If you’re particularly gifted the rewards can be so much sweeter than could be expected of common existence; but the hero’s journey to get there, to birth your vision into reality, requires irrational optimism, often ferocious detemination, a bloody good sense of humour and a clarity that sees you through cynicism, challenge and the perennial offers to take the easier route (ie. choosing Life Lite).
Going this route alone is what wears most genius-types down. Risk is not as risky when taken with others braving their all, sometimes betting finances, family, looking foolish. Why test the edge when the safe ground has been proven stable?
Some people just don’t have a choice, the compulsion to explore, experiment and dare is deep-infused into their entrepreneurial blood. I believe and have empirical evidence that absolutely supports that genius begets genius. It statistically outclasses genetics or formal education.
Put bright people together and let them play, socialise, debate, create, compete and very soon a culture of exceptional quality grows, and starts to attract more of these high calibre beings effortlessly! Silicon Valley is a case in point.
So you guessed it: the 2nd aspect is being a gatherer of genius.
Creating collectives of the talented, group genius. Developing culture in which fiercely independent and wild beings can connect with others to create & work on daring projects together. Explorers Societies of our age.
Continue reading ‘Hunter/Gatherer of Genius that is..’
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V’day indeed! If I must surrender to silliness of Valentine’s day: then my untimebound valentine - verily the very essence of victory :-P the seriously ravishable Churchill (I know I’ve gone on about him before but) he truly embodied genius:
- creatively (he could rival Edison in prolific applied innovation & outperform any in creative strategy - to win a megalithic war you gotta have some deep skills.. and of course he painted and wrote - damn well)
- in unparalleled courage with which he impassioned a nation,
- in clarity of vision &
- communicating it in such style and of course
- the wow!factor of his unstoppable determination
- the dangerous scalpel-sharp wit coupled with a charisma & character large enough to change the course of history. Profound leadership.
C’mon, how could one not fall in love with the delicious curmugeonly chap. Brittle, arrogant, drunken and dogmatic perhaps but perfection holds little delight for me. Francis Bacon said it best:
There is no excellent beauty that hath not strangeness in its proportion
although Feynman may nudge him out in the funstakes, ..oh gosh and then there’s always marvellous Mozart: who truly understood the nature of genius
| Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius - Mozart |
Oh the delights of great men to adore, if I started a list now I’d be engulfed >> from an adoring little huntress of those wild & wonderful : in celebration of men of courage, curiosity, creativity, character, com… (oops, I almost started giving away the What Makes Genius symptom list!) if you are daring to do something remarkable today I wish you a real V’day ..for Victory 
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thanks so much to my friend Stii - who I suspect doesn’t sleep much because he is a PROLIFIC hunter of extraordinary bits of brilliance, webtools & webbeauty: constantly delivering gems to enjoy on StumbleUpon and beyond - this was one of his discoveries.
It hustled the muses around me whispering of heart.soaring inspiration.. siren-calling the artist in me to dive dangerously back in. This is utterly exquisite & one of those bizarrely underrated youtube offerings.
Beware it’s entrancing & quite hypnotic:
clear 10 minutes of tranquility for this1, it’s worth it
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr5W2mERkUs]
PS. anti-tranquility update - (while I fix the plugin conflicts from the Wordpress 2.1 upgrade my Youtube embeds may not show) pop over here to watch this beautiful one
.. if this is the case here
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In preparation for the fourth in the What Makes Genius series, a little homage to a wordsmith & wildman, a genius for those who were born with fire in their bellies >> “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world” the blazing Walt Whitman
Perhaps it’s something in the DNA strings still resonating (there’s a poet laureate somewhere in my chemical coding) but I have a passion for potent poets (& songwriters) who can sling words with masterful ease & style. Their words lie like time bombs: patient, dormant until cast over & activated by human eyes or ears, delivering their intended visceral impact. Booom! Uncoiled power & real immortality.
From the deep & wide frenzy of imaginative fertility online, (thanks to the ease of online publishing and social media) I’m constantly being blown away by powerful gems of genius that lie scattered around the web. It seems we’re unleashing our wildness & defining who we are as individuals en masse. Styles diverse, delicious, disturbingly real and distortedly delusioned ..Who are you, really?
Try this: grab a quick 10 minutes & go write/share/make something today that speaks of the unbounded & unique you.. print it, scrawl it or go leave it somewhere online in sheer celebration of your unruly & wildloving creative self. The more outrageous the better, particularly if you haven’t done it in a loooong time..(anonymous may make it safer to be real the first few times) In the words of yet another delicious wildman Oscar Wilde:
Give a man a mask & he’ll tell you the truth
If it makes you laugh uproariously/ get a lump in your throat/ bursts a massive adrenaline rush into your blood/ floods you with relief when you’ve put it out in the world >> you’ll know you’ve hit the mark.
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