Crea tor s a re the bes t a t getting things s ta r ted, and a lthough
they can be quick to crea te chaos , they can a lso be surpr is ingly
cre a t ive a t finding wa ys out of chaos . Alwa ys put them in charge
of new pr oje cts , but move them on to the ne xt cre a t ion once
their job is done.
Creators can’t resist creating. They keep creating long after they have run out of resources, money,
and other people’s patience. In fact, they have their greatest creative breakthroughs after most
others would have given up.
Before Walt Disney’s first animated movie was finished, his distributor went bankrupt. Before his
second movie was finished, he ran out of money himself. To produce the now famous “Steamboat
Willie” featuring Mickey Mouse in 1927, strapped for cash, he wrote to his brother Roy: “Slap a big
mortgage on everything we got and let’s go after this thing in the right manner.”
Many creators do not make the best leaders as they run faster than their teams, and are often on
to the next project before the last one turns profitable. The world is also full of frustrated Creators
who have started a project and are now stuck running it. They did a great job creating it, but now
do a mediocre job trying to manage others (often blaming their team for not “keeping up”). They
move at an incredible speed, but can leave big waves behind them. Successful Creators include
Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson.