One of the main co-developers of NLP, Robert Dilts has studied the mental strategies of Walt Disney and realized that Walt had 3 distinct phases in his creativity strategy, the Dreamer, Realist and Critic phases.
I’ve found this strategy very useful not just in my own planning, but in coaching people as well. It’s helped me understand that it’s not because people are ‘unrealistic’, or ‘wishy-washy’, ‘cynical’, it’s that they lack enough different perspectives to see things from.
The Dreamer
The part of you who dreams big and is not afraid to do so. Everything is possible, and anything goes. There is no censorship and the sky’s the limit.
The Realist
The part of you that gets things done. She knows how to get everything planned and scheduled, she’s the organizer who knows her specifics.
The Critic
The part of you who is considered the downer of the party, always shooting holes in plans and ideas. But essential because she knows how to spot the holes in the ship so you can fix them. Takes everything apart and points out anything that might not work or might go wrong.
Recognize any of them? Chances are you will, and not only in yourself, but also in other people. It’s quite obvious that some people are more naturally one than the other, but the real problem is not having all of them, and integrating them in a useful way, because all persepctives are needed.
You can imagine the trouble a brainstorming session would have, for example, if 4 out of 5 people were focused on being critics while only 1 is a dreamer. It’s also going to be a problem if you plan mainly from the Dreamer’s point of view without bringing the Realist or Critic in.
Robert Dilts has a great exercise on integrating the Dreamer, Realist and Critic positions and I’d like to invite you to check it out.
Related Links: Strategies of Genius: Walt Disney article, Walt Disney Planning Strategy Exercise
Related Books: Strategies of Genius, Volume One, Strategies of Genius, Volume Two, Strategies of Genius, Volume Three
February 27th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Alvin,
Remember that the Disney Strategy focuses mainly on the physiology elements to access states, and the entire SOAR model was used to implement the Disney Strategy.
The Dreamer operates in the Future. Dreamer is also a visual constructed position and associated, where the individual seeking a creative solution simply focuses on the potential future rather than the absolute future. There’s no guarantee that the idea will work, of course. The focus here is on the ‘what if’. Physiology is symmetrical and relaxed, posture is upright and head is usually tilted upward.
The Realist operates in the Present. He’s also known to be the guy to figures out how to get from the Symptom to the Outcome by generating Resources. That’s part of the SCORE model. He focuses on the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’. The physiology is contemplative – put your hand on your chin kind of physiology. Typically Digital eye accessing.
The Critic is the guy who’s basically finds out what may go wrong and the critic needs to connect with the realist. Without the realist, the critic is just the downer. But the critic often identifies loopholes in your plan and your realist looks for ways to plug that gap. The critic’s physiology is pretty similar to the realist except that there is a lot more auditory self-talk and head is tilted. Visual construct-recall patterns are noticed in the eye movements.
Each needs to ‘consult’ the other to get to the ultimate solution.
February 27th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
Thanks Stuart! You brought up quite a few points I missed.
Yup, the most essential one being that they each need to consult each other to refine the best solution.
The cycle usually goes this way: Dreamer dreams up idea, goes to Realist to implement, goes to Critic for critical evaluation, goes back to Dreamer to dream solutions, Realist to implement, Critic to evaluate again, and so on until the Critic is happy.
April 19th, 2006 at 7:52 am
I participated on one of Robert’s ‘Strategies of Genius’ workshops a few years back. Here’s an interesting contrast: Tim Kenning presenting ‘The Houdini Principle‘ in London last Saturday. Tim says specifically that he did not ‘model’ Houdini (the ultimate lateral thinker), but a lot of the principles of his work are the same. We’ve got a video of this presentation as well, which should be available soon.
April 19th, 2006 at 10:17 am
Thanks for the heads up Ian! Modeling Houdini sounds fascinating…I’m gonna have a listen ASAP!