The value of the renegade catalyst

The idea of generating ideas has been around before creative consultants invented themselves. Richard P. Feynman was one of the youngest of the physicists that worked on the atom bomb at the Los Alamos facility during World War 2.

Robert Wilson, the man that recruited Feynman into this Manhattan Project told him "to approach each department in turn and offer to lend expertise."

"Have them describe to you in every detail the problem to such a point that you really could sit down and work on it without asking any more questions."

"We all came to meet this brash champion of analysis," recalled Philip Morrison. "He did not disappoint us; he explained on the spot how to gain a quick result that had evaded one of our clever calculators for a month."

Feynman had the ability to see to the heart of a question, to cut through the claptrap and identify the essence of the problem and begin applying methodologies to isolate a solution.

In the world of business in the 21st century most companies desire specialists and experts with as narrow a focus as possible. Feynman was ordered to do a lot of walking about and to simply discuss the issues that were creating bottlenecks.

A situation like that was always going to create personality clashes and provoke intellects with insecure egos. What established Feynman and set him apart was that the others eventually realised he was the best person to do that particular job.

There were others that could calculate faster than him, others that knew theory more in depth than he and others that already had their Ph.D's.

Feynman however, was the catalyst. He was the trigger in a group of the most concentrated mathematical and scientific minds ever put together.

Most companies do not ever realise the value of the renegade catalyst. That individual with crazy conceptions that never conforms but can precipitate events that catapult the organisation past the irritating and often man-made obstacles.

According to James Gleick in his book called 'Genius', from which all the above quotes come from, "He (Feynman) did not wait, as Beth (one of the more theoretical of the physicists) did, to double-check every intuitive leap."

"His first idea did not always work. His cannier colleagues developed a rule of thumb: If Feynman says it three times, it's right."

The process of innovation and creativity is ongoing and often needs constant stimulation. Utilising a person with a fixation or obsession with creating and innovating can trigger other employees that might otherwise retreat into their comfort zones.

There is an element of certainty attached to the comfort zone but attacking the boundaries and discovering faster more efficient methods of working do not originate there.

Feynman worked with physics and mathematics but the fundamental idea that he puts across is applicable across the entire spectrum of any industry.

Looking at the question or problem from a different perspective or getting someone else to look at it differently can produce astonishing and sometimes frightening successful results.