Hi! managers: Profiles of successful creators in business

Today we look at the creator profile.

High-profile creators include Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. Naturally intuitive, creators are big-picture thinkers. This often means that they struggle with the detailed side of a business. Their drive creates innovation and gives them momentum but it can exhaust those around them. Paradoxically, they are often described as the best and the worst communicators.

Creators can come in two forms. Introverted creators are more likely to discover their wealth in inventions, or being creative and artistic. The extroverted creator tends to be more of a pioneer, creating not just products but businesses. Both are visionaries and automatically attract followers.

Although they are great at getting things started, they are notorious for not completing and can often be seen juggling many projects at a time, which can lead to distraction and a lack of focus. Typically they are also hopeless at timing. Appointments and deadlines can often fly by unnoticed.

Successful creators know that their most valuable time is spent in creating, so they build teams around them to allow them to do that successfully. Although it might not feel like work, their biggest contributions often come when they are daydreaming of new and better ways to solve problems.

Where creators can come unstuck is in failing to understand the value of their innovations in other people's business models. Daydreaming is great, but execution is what will give them the learning experience to turn ideas into practical sources of wealth. Ownership of those ideas is also vital.

No entrepreneur can be successful on their own, and while creative people can attract and repel in equal measure, they need to use others such as deal makers and mechanics to raise the value of their creations.

Creators are very useful to have at the beginning of a business or product cycle. They can also be the best people to innovate a business out of problems. However, if a creator enters a business that is already well run and systemised, there is a risk of breaking both. The creator will be frustrated and systems innovation at the wrong time can go from being a winning strategy to a destructive strategy very quickly.

Callum Laing is the founder and owner of several businesses. In Thailand he is also country manager for XL Results Foundation, the largest social entrepreneur network in the world and the originator of Wealth Dynamics (the eight wealth profiles). Follow his series on "The Lighter Side of Entrepreneurship" in the Hi! Managers column every second Wednesday of the month.