{"id":42,"date":"2010-01-14T16:22:35","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T16:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2010-01-14T17:21:31","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T17:21:31","slug":"creator-mechanic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/2010\/01\/creator-mechanic\/","title":{"rendered":"Creator\/mechanic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"intro\">\n\t\t\tOne for the &#8220;What am I like?&#8221; category.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p><lj-cut>There&#8217;s a series of books and related material by a bloke called Roger Hamilton, which uses an <a href=\"http:\/\/wdprofiletest.com\/\" title=\"A page with the 8 categories and a picture of how they fit together\">8-category classification of people&#8217;s natural strengths<\/a>, and if you take their test you get a sort of star chart thing of which aspects you&#8217;re most naturally good at.  It costs $100 to do the test, which is not an amount of money I&#8217;d probably ever have spent on it &#8211; but a couple of years ago, I got a freebie code (thanks!) off my brother, who&#8217;d been to one of RH&#8217;s courses, and gave it a go.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tI&#8217;m always a bit sceptical about things like this, but actually it turned out to be enjoyably interesting, and some of the description was quite recognisably me.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tHere&#8217;s the pretty picture I got:\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"mediaobject\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/graphics\/illustrations\/wd\/jennifer_wealth_dynamics_profile_small.png\" alt=\"Profile diagram. The main parts of what's on it will be explained in the rest of the article anyway.\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"note\">Slightly bigger version <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/graphics\/illustrations\/wd\/jennifer_wealth_dynamics_profile.png\" title=\"Jennifer's Wealth Dynamics Profile picture, full size version (Wink of the eye to Dee who said I never have pix on my blog ;-) )\">here<\/a>.<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tSo my two strongest ones were &#8220;Creator&#8221; and &#8220;Mechanic&#8221; &#8211; mechanic actually somewhat higher than creator.  By &#8220;Mechanic&#8221; they basically mean something like &#8220;systems geek&#8221;.  I&nbsp;had low scores on the roles involving lots of gregariousness and socialising and making deals.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"creator\"><\/a>Creator<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tHere are some words and phrases from the &#8220;creator&#8221; profile:\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"itemizedlist\">\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinventor, visionary, pioneer, innovative, intuitive\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tbig picture thinker\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\texcellent at getting things started\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tcreating not just products, but the businesses and marketing plans that will drive those products to market\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tlikely to start their own business to support their product innovations\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tcan be extremely productive when you are using your creativity\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\n\t\t\tPitfalls for a creator include\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"itemizedlist\">\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\ttendency to have many projects going at the same time, which can sometimes lead to distraction and lack of focus\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tliving the consequence of some creative idea they had in the past.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\n\t\t\tIt being a while now since I did the test, I&#8217;ve forgotten most of the questions, but one I do remember the gist of because I found it funny.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tIt was something like &#8220;So your project just finished very successfully.  What are you doing now?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"orderedlist\">\n<ol type=\"a\">\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\tYou&#8217;re in the office, tidily wrapping up all the last loose ends of admin.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\tYou&#8217;re at the end-of-project party, celebrating and socialising with your team-mates.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\tYou&#8217;re brimming over with ideas for the next project, and already beginning to invent and design it.&#8221;\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n\t\t\tI&nbsp;burst out laughing, because answer&nbsp;(c) so blatantly and perfectly described EXACTLY where I would be at!  Had they been a fly on the wall?\n\t\t<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"mechanic\"><\/a>Mechanic<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tHere are some phrases from the &#8220;mechanic&#8221; profile:\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"itemizedlist\">\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tmix of intuitive thinking and systems focus\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\twhat they build tends to be built to last.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdistribution, construction and logistics\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tcreative focus is on the systems\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdynamic, yet with an introverted tendency &#8230; likely to pick your friends carefully.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinnovating and creating the systems processes &#8230; a system of your own creation.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThe value creation activities that are important to you include the documentation of all systems and processes &#8230; This becomes imbedded value that endures not just with the venture you are involved in in now, but the next one as well, and the one after that.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"note\">(hmm yeah&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/bi\/workshop.htm\" title=\"Article by me on a format for designing workshops\">See<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/bi\/fitmisfit.htm\" title=\"My write-up of the F&amp;MF workshop so that other people could copy it\">me<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/bi\/BiCon\/backtonormalworld.htm\" title=\"Another workshop writeup so other people could copy it\">document<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/bi\/noshersnetwork.htm\" title=\"How to do Noshers' Network\">my<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/bi\/BiCon\/BiCon2005report.htm\" title=\"A long write-up on stuff I did for BiCon 2005 and how it went\">inventions<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tOne pitfall for a mechanic:  <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>sensitivity to systems more of a curse than a talent, as they would always be the first to feel affected when things weren&#8217;t going to plan<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><a name=\"complementary-people\"><\/a>Complementary people<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tThe whole premise of RH&#8217;s stuff is that you use your profile to discover what kinds of other people you should hook up with, to generate most value in the world and most wealth for yourself.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tActually, mechanics are strongly recommended to connect up with creators, so it&#8217;s a pretty workable combination in itself.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tThe other one they&#8217;re both most recommended to hook up with is called &#8220;Deal maker&#8221;.  Creators and mechanics aren&#8217;t that great at turning their ideas into money, and they&#8217;re generally not all that extrovert.  Without someone else as a &#8220;deal maker&#8221;, I&#8217;ll probably never get super rich off my ideas.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tBut what also struck me was that now we&#8217;ve got the internet, to some degree my systems skills can enable me to set up systems which would do some of the world-facing for me.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"validation\"><\/a>Validation<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tSomething I found very useful about this feedback is about valuing my systems-geekiness.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tWhat I realised is that validation for creativity is really easy to come by.  It&#8217;s a quality that&#8217;s almost universally lauded and valued, and envied by people who don&#8217;t think they have enough of it.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tBut most people are considerably more ambivalent about systems skills and process-geekery.  About the best you&#8217;ll ever hear on that front is &#8220;Gosh, aren&#8217;t you organised&#8221;.  And even then, that often has a sort of back-spin on it like <span class=\"note\">::cough::obsessive-pernickety-anal::cough::<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tIt made a change to be told &#8220;This is one of your top assets&#8221;.  It&nbsp;was almost like a coming-out moment &#8211; yes!  I&nbsp;am a systems geek!  So&nbsp;there!  and&nbsp;hurrah!\n\t\t<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"lord\"><\/a>Lord<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMy next highest two were &#8220;Star&#8221; and &#8220;Lord&#8221;.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tThe gist of the &#8220;Lord&#8221; idea (yeah I know, sexist name for it) is someone who controls a lot of resources &#8211; or at least the income stream from them &#8211; in a quiet way.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tCompared to the Mechanic or Creator profiles, there wasn&#8217;t much in the description of this that I recognised as particularly characteristic of me.  About the closest was &#8220;<span class=\"quote\">first to analyze a situation<\/span>&#8221;.  But it&#8217;s true that I do really like to own useful resources.  I&nbsp;still remember the day when I first read that &#8220;the artist should own the means of production&#8221; and immediately thought &#8220;Yes!&#8221;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tSo in reality I&#8217;ve got, for example, a badge machine, some music gear, a lot of useful woodworking\/DIY tools&#8230; and &#8211; not exactly on the Rockefeller scale here &#8211; a cellar which is quite unfeasibly full of reclaimed wood, cardboard and bubble wrap ::laughing to myself as I write:: \t\t<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"star\"><\/a>Star<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tThe &#8220;Star&#8221; profile describes someone who personifies their own brand &#8211; like Oprah Winfrey, or any number of celebrities or pop stars.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tThe intriguing thing about this to me is:  Yes, I&nbsp;can see that (especially in my music projects) I&nbsp;<em>do<\/em> some of the things typical of the &#8220;Star&#8221; profile.  (One of them is &#8220;<span class=\"quote\">defining and refining your identity<\/span>&#8221; &#8211; and I recognise in that something of my uncompromising line about what <a href=\"http:\/\/www.single-bass.co.uk\" title=\"Home page for Single Bass, my main music project.\">Single Bass<\/a> is and isn&#8217;t.)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tBut some of it does feel more like &#8220;doing&#8221; than &#8220;being&#8221;.  I&#8217;m not actually as extrovert as the essentially &#8220;star&#8221; profile person would be.  I have reservations about being famous &#8211; it strikes me as rather inconvenient and stressful.  It&#8217;s more like, I figured out (with my systems skills) how &#8220;being a pop star&#8221; works, and then planned accordingly :-)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tOK, I&#8217;m not in danger of getting famous from Single Bass any time soon anyway &#8211; it&#8217;s been on the back burner for ages.  But the point is, it&#8217;s the creative aspects of it that I like most:  both the obvious one of songwriting, and the systems-invention aspect of spreading it around.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"and-the-rest\"><\/a>And the rest&#8230;<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tThere&#8217;s another profile-dimension called Accumulator that I have a bit of, and then the other three I have practically none of, according to the test &amp; the pic.  My main quadrant is introvert\/intuitive, and in the opposite quadrant I&#8217;ve got basically nul points.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t(In the interests of fairness to myself, I&nbsp;feel I must mention that by &#8220;Supporter&#8221; they mean &#8220;someone who knows lots of people and connects them&#8221; &#8211; in fact, &#8220;Connector&#8221; or &#8220;Team-builder&#8221; might have been a better name for it &#8211; so not having much of that in my profile doesn&#8217;t mean I&#8217;m not supportive of my <em>friends<\/em>.)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tSo yeah, on this system basically I&#8217;m a creator\/mechanic.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tOr I could say mechanic\/creator, since actually my Mechanic score was higher &#8211; but it feels like Creator ought to come first in terms of real-time process.  (And it does come first on RH&#8217;s list, with Mechanic at the end.)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"business-vs-other-wealth\"><\/a>Business vs other wealth<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tI&#8217;m ambivalent about RH&#8217;s material.  On&nbsp;the one hand, he says that the wealth doesn&#8217;t have to be financial &#8211; it&#8217;s about your contribution to the world.  On&nbsp;the other hand, pretty much all his <em>examples<\/em> are about business and money, and pretty much all the people he names are from that world.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tI&#8217;d like to see him writing some stuff about how his eight roles work in families and communities and activism!  For instance, who would be the &#8220;deal maker&#8221; I supposedly ought to work with in activism?  What would they typically be doing, and how would I recognise them?\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tBut the basic idea of &#8220;know your strengths and joys, and play to them, and find other people who like doing the other bits&#8221;, I&nbsp;think is fundamentally sound.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<h2><a name=\"from-me-to-me\"><\/a>From me to me<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t\t\tThe thing I most want to remember for myself about this just now is how much of a contribution it is to the world when you play to your strengths.  It&#8217;s true, loads of the most worthwhile stuff I&#8217;ve done has been inventing &#8211; be it things that didn&#8217;t exist before, or the systems to make them work.  &#8220;<span class=\"quote\">Can be extremely productive when you are using your creativity<\/span>&#8221;.  I&#8217;d like to give myself permission to groove with that a lot more:  more of the sheer creativity, plus finding creative, cooperative ways to need to do as little as possible of the things I&#8217;m no good at :-)\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"toc\">Linky index&#8230;<br \/><a href=\"#top\">Top of article<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#creator\">Creator<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#mechanic\">Mechanic<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#complementary-people\">Complementary people<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#validation\">Validation<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#lord\">Lord<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#star\">Star<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#and-the-rest\">And the rest&#8230;<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#business-vs-other-wealth\">Business vs other wealth<\/a><br \/><a href=\"#from-me-to-me\">From me to me<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One for the &#8220;What am I like?&#8221; category:  some thoughts from when I did Roger Hamilton&#8217;s &#8220;Wealth Dynamics&#8221; profile quiz.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-am-i-like"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}