QUALITIES
The following six (6) qualities best describe what I strive to encourage in others, and in essence, what my entire life has been driven by and therefore centred around. My assertions of making time for personal and professional reflection, as well as considering critically what we value in life, ensures we individually remain valid in our community.
INNOVATIVE
‘Resembling Prometheus Alexander can be daringly original or creative - being a Promethean can also mean being defiant of authority or limits, with consequences’
For me, the character quality of being innovative arises in states of deep reflection, whether that be in problem-solving or in exploring a different take from a strength-based perspective, often in consultation with significant others. This quality of my quiet introversion often provides others with perspectives which they may have missed in the wider context.
ADAPTABLE
‘Being adaptable is all about being resourceful, leading teams with empathy, determination, and trust.’
According to Hamid Ghanadan from the Linus Group, in this fast, technology-driven era it is important for businesses and organizations of any size to employ creative professionals who are adaptable rather than specialized in one single aspect of their creativity. In my case as a polymath, being adaptable is also a transferable survival skill, useful for those beginning to ‘rut’ in their role, challenging for those already entrenched in their so-called comfort of ‘permanency’.
INGENIOUS
‘Having or showing an unusual aptitude for discovering,
inventing, or contriving.’
As my inventions even as a young child demonstrate, the aptitude for creating things of originality, from raw products or found objects through to resourcefulness, cleverness in conception or execution as a designer continues to emerge through time. This has also posed as difficult for those who mistake cleverness for cunning wit or who misplace enthusiasm as a behavioural trait of social isolates.
My ingenuity has often been an area of my personality and character fraught with reactive temperament from others, therefore, as I’ve grown older and wiser far more curtailed in expression than when I was a child. This label that I’ve applied to works and projects is most closely aligned with that as an entrepreneur although equally as useful to count when describing ‘breakthrough’ initiatives as an employee or consultant.
AUTHENTIC
‘As conforming to the convention based on fact or as core to one’s expression of themself, true to character and as an honest appraisal supported without question.’
This human quality is the most highly prized point of feedback from others… in all that I do, say, and live out. Trustworthiness, loyalty and honesty are part of the same moral fabric yet, it is only with the capacity to understand the difference when referencing ethics that these virtues come to life.
It is well known that I do not suffer fools gladly, nor will I be enrolled in negative energy and often vote with my feet even if it means walking away from a situation or an individual that compromises my own authentic truth. No amount of moral consensus especially that espoused in religious circles across ‘society’ provides reason for the ongoing depravities of humanity, therefore, from experience, when I refer to my ‘authentic truth’ I speak from a lived experience of the absolute opposite in others.
ANALYTICAL
‘Using skilled analysis or logical reasoning to separate whole concepts into the intellectual or substantial register, as elemental parts or basic applicable principles.’
One of the most important aspects of the analytical synthesis of information in a way that breaks down data into related concepts, whilst maintaining cogent transparency and the ability to act on mistakes or anomalies in that analytical process. The ability to ‘deconstruct’ information ‘ in order to draw conclusions is one aspect of analysis and the other is constantly refining analytical skills including logical reasoning, critical thinking, communication, research, data analysis, and no secret - creativity.
I am constantly amazed at how the human mind appropriates information that doesn't follow the rules of factual analysis, likewise the capability of returning with consistency to check and double-check facts in all facets of life also opens new possibilities ‘to walk in truth and care’. Likewise, it is emotional intelligence that leads the act of improvisation when faced with calamity, in which the shift to the swift analysis of a situation provides the answer.
Inquisitive
‘The character trait and personal quality of having or showing an interest in learning and acquiring new knowledge; to be inquisitive and curious’.
It will be known that I am an intensely curious person, having concentrated on squeezing as much as I could between birth and death - that small dash on my tombstone. It is also plainly obvious to others that I’ll never be the most popular person as a result of that curiosity.
As an ode to perfection, whether I rank first or eighty-first to me means very little, other than acknowledging already as a high ranking and awarded creative professional anyway, that my realm was in the doing and the action of achieving at the very best level I could at that point in time. I recognized very early on in life that the race to win was within myself, so it perplexes me that so many people kill themselves over being perfect, especially as lifelong learning is about inquiry, surviving long enough to know that perfection is in the process, not the abstract result.