Paralysis of leadership is due in part to the unseen grip of the special interests.
John W. GardnerRead
The creative individual is particularly gifted in seeing the gap between what is and what could be.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creative individuals have a unique ability to envision possibilities beyond the current reality.
In this quote, John W. Gardner emphasizes the gift of creativity, suggesting that creative individuals possess a remarkable insight that allows them to recognize the potential for improvement and innovation. They can see beyond the status quo, imagining new possibilities and solutions that may not yet exist, which is essential for progress and development in various aspects of life and society.
Themes
CreativityImaginationPotentialVisionInnovation
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about the importance of creativity in business.
More from John W. Gardner
All quotes βMore and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-scale organization, by overcrowding. More and more Americans are appalled by the ravages of industrial progress, by the defacement of nature, by man-made ugliness. If our society continues at its present rate to become less livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end up in sumptuous misery.
John W. GardnerRead
Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one's powers and talents.
John W. GardnerRead
Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in the next county. Some find strength in eloquence, some in judgment, some in courage.
John W. GardnerRead
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.
John W. GardnerRead
I think that all human systems require continuous renewal. They rigidify. They get stuff in the joints. They forget what they cared about. The forces against it are nostalgia and the enormous appeal of having things the way they always have been, appeals to a supposedly happy past. But we've got to move on.
John W. GardnerRead
Similar quotes
I discovered that my imagination came alive when I moved away from the immediate world around me.
Kazuo IshiguroRead
Ad agencies do all kinds of market research that ask people what they think they want, and instead, you should be creating things that you want. If you do something and you get it, the rest of the world will get it, too. Trust your own instincts, your own intellect, and your own sense of humor.
George LoisRead
The things we fear most in organizations - fluctuations, disturbances,_x000D_ _x000D_ imbalances - are the primary sources of creativity.
Margaret J. WheatleyRead
I think that in order to struggle you have to be creative. In my life, creativity has been something that has sustained me; it awoke my spiritual struggle.
Assata ShakurRead
The enemy of creativity... is fear. We're all born creative, it takes a little while to become afraid. A surprising insight: an enemy of fear is creativity. Acting in a creative way generates action, and action persuades the fear to lighten up.
Seth GodinRead
Do you think of yourself as a creative personality? If you do, you are both fortunate and correct, in fact the beautiful truth is that everyone is creative and we all have the ability to develop our creative potential. It is wise to remember that the person who follows the crowd will get no further than the crowd. The person who walks the creative path is likely to find they are in places no one has ever been before.
Bob ProctorRead