Developing Creative Leaders: Learner’s Reflections on Methodology and Pedagogy

Abstract

In this empirical chapter, we investigate learners’ qualitative feedback on the perceived effectiveness of the methodology and pedagogy of a comparatively new creative leader development program. The chapter reports how prospective creative leaders appraise ex post the overall methodology, the chosen pedagogy, as well as the value of different pedagogical tools employed by the Genius Journey program. Section 1 discusses why organizations need to develop more creative leaders and why this requires training programs that are both effective and creative. The second part explores pertinent theories and suitable learning approaches in the current context of developing creative leaders. Section 3 summarizes our chosen research design and methodology. In Sect. 4, we present the empirical findings on how learners qualitatively comment on the methodology and pedagogy of the Genius Journey. We also investigate how creative leader candidates define the program in their own words and explore how they perceive the value of various pedagogical accessories used in the program. We also report how the creative leader candidates sum-up their takeaways from the program. In the final Sect. 5, we discuss the relevance of our findings for researchers, educators, and practitioners in the evolving domain of creative leadership.

1 Introduction: The Call for Creative and Effective Creative Leader Development Programs

1.1 Research Background and Relevance

With the new millennium, many business thinkers suggest that humanity has reached a new stage of economic development, the innovation economy (e.g., Canton 2007) or creative economy (Howkins 2001). At the same time, Canton (2007) suggests that in the early twenty-first century, many business trends are driven by speed, exponential change, complexity, risks, and surprises. Von Stamm (2017) noted the importance of creativity and innovation to respond with new solutions to the challenges of the modern VUCA world (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity).

Against this background, it is unsurprising that in practitioners’ surveys (e.g., IBM 2010; World Economic Forum 2015), business leaders emphasize the crucial importance of creativity as a dominant leadership trait to maneuver a highly dynamic business environment, and the need for organizations to develop more top talents and executives into creative leaders.

An IBM (2011) study reported that two out of three Chief Human Resources Officers of the world’s leading organizations were at a loss where to begin their CEO-directed initiatives to develop more creative leaders. Why? The study authors suggested that organizations seem to fail at developing creative leaders as they rely on traditional leadership development programs that use conventional methodological and pedagogical formats that are not particularly creative. The authors stress that to develop creative leaders effectively, the training programs employed to do so must use a creative methodology and pedagogy, and not a traditional, long-established one.

1.2 Research Subject, Problem, and Objectives

In response to the call above for new training formats for creative leadership development, the first author of this chapter purpose-designed a new creative leader development method named Genius Journey (Reis 2015). This program sets out to enable learners to acquire the creative success mindsets (attitudes and action routines) of outstanding creative leaders and to gradually expand their creative confidence, competence, and consciousness levels (Reis 2015, 2020, 2022). The program employs a journey metaphor as an experiential pedagogical format to teach candidates the said mindsets both effectively and creatively (Reis 2015, 2022).

Our present chapter is part of an ongoing research program that we designed to investigate the effectiveness and creativeness of this comparatively new creative leader development program. In this research program, we (a) introduce the Genius Journey program, (b) assess if learners rate the chosen approach to be both creative and effective, and (c) seek deeper level insights from learners of how they experience the program and perceive the value, creativity, and effectiveness of its methodology and pedagogy on a personal level. This chapter has the following research antecedents (see also Fig. 1):

• Reis (2015) introduces the methodology used by the Genius Journey program, and outlines to what extent it builds upon—and differs from—earlier approaches to enhance individual creativity and develop creative leaders.

• A second conceptual paper (Reis and Hunt 2017) describes in detail the experiential pedagogy (structure, contents, and activities) employed in this new creative leader development program.

• In an empirical paper, Reis et al. (2018) asked learners to rate the methodology and pedagogy of the Genius Journey program in quantitative terms, thereby confirming the efficacy and creativity of the chosen approach in general terms.

• In a second empirical paper, Reis et al. (2020) investigated how learners experience their inner heroes’ journeys while undergoing the program. The results offered deeper level insights on what excursions, exercises, and activities of the Genius Journey program resonate and add value to individual learners on a personal level.

  Fig. 1

  

  Overview of the pedagogical tools used in the Genius Journey program

With our new paper, we want to widen these insights as to why the Genius Journey approach works. Thereby, we set out to investigate why learners deem the chosen methodology and pedagogy to be valuable, creative, and effective. We also explore which of a myriad of pedagogical tools used in the program appeal most with learners, and why.

1.3 Research-Guiding Questions

This empirical paper investigates the overarching research question:

How did creative leader candidates describe and exemplify ex-post their perceptions of those particular methodological and pedagogical elements that make the Genius Journey program both effective and genuinely creative?

We explored this research-guiding question with a set of subordinated questions: How do creative leader candidates …

• 1. Define and describe the Genius Journey method in their own words?

• 2. Exemplify the effectiveness and creativeness of the Genius Journey methodology?

• 3. Evaluate the effectiveness and creativeness of the Genius Journey pedagogy?

• 4. Assess the personal value of various creative pedagogical tools used in the Genius Journey program of creative leadership development?

• 5. Express their overall sentiments and main takeaways from “traveling the Genius Journey” at the end of the program?

2 Developing Creative Leaders: A Literature Review on Methodologies and Pedagogy

Creative leadership is an evolving domain within management studies at the intersection of the domains of leadership, individual creativity, and innovation. The niche domain of creative leadership development combines the literature on creative leadership with educational theories.

The pertinent literature approaches creative leadership from various perspectives. For example, van Velsor et al. (2010) frame their discussions more on traditional leadership styles. Conversely, Sternberg et al. (2004) link the topic to different strategic action programs. Another strand of literature (e.g., Basadur 2004; Puccio et al. 2011; Williams and Foti 2011) suggests developing creative leaders by using classic innovation process methods and creative thinking strategies. Antes and Schuelke (2011) advocate the use of technological tools (such as simulations, e-mentoring, and social media) as a way to leverage creative leadership capacity.

In contrast, and as advocated by Hughes et al. (2018), the first author of this chapter developed a creative leader development program (Genius Journey) with a novel, well-structured methodology (Reis 2015), and an experiential pedagogy (Reis 2017) that aims to achieve a lasting creative metamorphosis of leaders’ mindsets. The Genius Journey method proposes ten creativity-enhancing mindsets (attitudes and action routines) alongside ten creativity-limiting mindsets that distinguish creative leaders from more conventional leaders (Reis 2015).

The method is theoretically grounded in psychological studies on traits of genius (e.g., Feist 1999; Sternberg 1999), biographies of creative leaders (e.g., Branson 1998; Isaacson 2007, 2011), semi-biographical training programs on creative leaders (e.g., Gelb 1998; Gelb and Miller Caldicott 2007), and training programs to enhance individual creativity (e.g., Ray and Myers 1986; Cameron 1992), among others. In his Genius Journey model (Reis 2015, 2020), the first author proposes that prospective creative leaders ought to acquire the conducive mindsets in a specific sequential order based on a hierarchy of expanding consciousness levels. The Genius Journey method also employs a journey metaphor to teach the creative success mindsets of creative leaders to candidates in a genuinely creative format. To pedagogically animate the method, the first author developed an experiential creative leadership development program aligned with Kolb’s (1984, 2015) experiential learning cycle theory.

In our current qualitative research, we report how creative leader candidates describe and exemplify their subjective perceptions of what methodological and pedagogical elements make the Genius Journey program both effective and genuinely creative. As outlined above, in Sect. 1, this chapter is a further pillar in our ongoing research program on creative leadership development.

3 Research Design and Methodology

3.1 Research Design

Using a social constructionist perspective, we have applied Reis’ (2015) Genius Journey model of creative leadership and Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning cycle theory as theoretical frameworks to determine how and to what extent the Genius Journey supports creative mindset transformations in prospective creative leaders.

3.2 Methodology

This empirical study follows a qualitative research design. Between 2012 and 2015, we collected data from five cohorts of learners at the end of a 12-week long development program in creative leadership. This training was offered as an elective as part of a master’s in management program at a university in Bangkok, Thailand. The learners were mainly business professionals in the age range 25–35 years from Thailand (55%) and a variety of ten other, mostly European, countries (45%). We collected qualitative data from 35 participants about their personal experience of undergoing the Genius Journey program of creative leadership development.

We collected data by asking learners after the end of the program to write a reflective essay of 6–8 pages. We used a set of open-ended guiding questions that probed how the learners experienced their transformational journey through the Genius Journey program of creative leader development; we reported these findings in earlier research (Reis et al. 2020). Interestingly, and unprompted, many learners chose to also comment on the methodology and pedagogy used in the program, as well as on the value of different creative pedagogical tools. Due to the richness of these data, we feel also compelled to report this feedback because it exemplifies the learners’ responses (to the methodological and pedagogical value of the program) in more personal terms. In exploring the proffered data, we followed the flow of the subordinated research-guiding questions.

4 Findings

We present our findings on how the creative leader candidates reflected on the course methodology and pedagogy of the Genius Journey method of creative leadership in the order of the research-guiding questions.

4.1 Creative Leader Candidates’ Definitions

We observed that many prospective creative leaders chose not to merely repeat the given definition of the creative leadership course program. Intriguingly, they developed their own interpretative—and even metaphorical—definitions of what the Genius Journey program aspires to do. Collectively, these informal, personal descriptions of the learners recast an abstract, theoretical definition into a more profound, more practical, and more applied format. Here is an example of how one learner personalized and “translated” the given definition of the course methodology for herself:

After the first class I went home, and I started typing on my computer “genius journey” because I was eager to know what it was about and this is the definition that I found on the thinkergy website: ‘Genius Journey is: An experiential, action-oriented creative leadership development program that enables you to reconnect with your creativity and your inner genius.’ On a theoretical level, this is what the genius journey is about, but on a practical level, it is a lot more: it has been a journey around Bangkok, around the college, and, most importantly, inside myself. It has been a journey in which all the stops were just as important as the final destination, and every week I have discovered more and more things about myself.—ITALIAN FEMALE 1

Another prospective creative leader shared the following definition:

According to its formal definition, the genius journey is ‘an experiential, action-oriented individual creativity training program that enables you to reconnect with your creativity and your inner genius by providing you with creative mindsets and cognitive skills of genius thinkers and creative business leaders in order to transform into an authentic, creative leader in the innovation economy.’ In my personal opinion, the Genius Journey has been much more than that. It has been an on-going challenge with myself, an introspective itinerary where I had the possibility to face both my strong points and my limits, and of course, a path during which I learned a significant amount of new concepts and gained many relevant insights.—ITALIAN FEMALE 2

Other prospective creative leaders defined the Genius Journey method as “a combination between theory, principle, philosophy and relaxation” (THAI MALE 8) that jointly bring out the creative personality of a learner, or described the method metaphorically as “a mirror and reflect myself back by telling me who I am, what I really love to do and what aspects should be improved” (THAI FEMALE 1) to transform into a creative leader.

4.2 Creative Leader Candidates’ Views on the Methodology

In an earlier study (Reis et al. 2018), we provide quantitative evidence of both the efficacy and the creativity of the Genius Journey method of creative leader development. In this current qualitative study, creative leader candidates offer in-depth explanations of why this is the case.

Many learners highlighted the effectiveness of the Genius Journey model with its ten destination stops (and related creativity-limiting Stop- and creativity empowering Start-mindsets). For example, one learner expressed this notion as follows: “Overall, I think the Genius Journey Method is great. The concept of Stops/Starts clearly explains the growth of creative leadership in everyone and shortcut the learning process.” (THAI FEMALE 3).

Some creative leader candidates also grasped the interconnectedness and imminent sequence and hierarchy of the ten destination stops of the Genius Journey model:

The fact that reflecting on one stop just made me jumping back to another stop reveals the—in my eyes—most important thing about the journey in order to fully understand its meaning: It is not just a journey during which you pass through the first stop, then the second, then the third and so on until you reach your last and final destination where the journey is over. In my eyes, the opposite is the case. All stops interact with each other. Some are prerequisites of others. Starting with stop number 1 doesn’t mean that you will never come back to it at a later point in time. It is therefore not a journey that is traveled within 12 weeks, it is a life-long journey which has just started.—GERMAN MALE 3

Several learners also commented on the importance of the BE-DO-HAVE-WOW-principle (that links to Zen Buddhist teachings), which underlies the flow of mindsets taught at the ten “destination stops” in the Genius Journey model. One learner stated that “The Genius Journey Stops are well structured to teach us the fundamental concept to the advanced level such as Genius Journey Formula BE > DO > HAVE > WOW.” (THAI MALE 6) Another learner elaborated on this point in greater detail:

Another great component of the Genius Journey is its formula BE-DO-HAVE-WOW! This approach uncovered insights into my personality. I used to be more the guy who was acting the other way around: HAVE-DO-BE. I was more concerned about where I will end up and how I have to adjust my behavior for achieving my goals. This creates risk that you wear a mask instead of being yourself. But the BE-DO-HAVE approach goes the other way around. I have to focus on my personality and my abilities first and then apply them the best way I can in order to come up with outcomes that I am satisfied with. It is a very essential approach, which I took away from the Genius Journey.—GERMAN MALE 3

4.3 Creative Leader Candidates’ Views on the Pedagogy

The creative leader candidates also shared their opinions on the overall effectiveness and creativity of the pedagogy used in the Genius Journey program that aligns with Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. One learner commented on how this pedagogical approach supports gradual creative mindset transformation:

A big reason is the experiential approach. We focused more on cognitive thinking and mindsets of proven creative leaders (books and articles about them, their inventions, quotes), which was complemented by scientific material from Creative Leadership research. This mixture didn’t only increase my knowledge, but it changed my way of thinking. The Genius Journey content not only touched my surface, but also bored through it. Plain material only from scientific books may vanish pretty fast after the exam. But my learning outcomes from the Genius Journey will stay with me longer. If I follow my goal, seeing the Genius Journey as a long life travel that has just started, they may accompany me through my whole life.—GERMAN MALE 3

Other creative leader candidates highlighted how the Genius Journey pedagogy animates the four phases of Kolb’s learning cycle (do and experience; reflect on the experience; conceptualize the learnings; apply the learnings). For example, one learner stated that “You have practice how to learn. Learn how to fail, learn how to win, learn how to pause, learn how to start, learn how to be a success. Everything evolves with the learning.” (THAI MALE 9). Another learner commented that “During all the weeks I enjoyed most to reflect myself and to learn more about me. I really appreciate these kinds of training because they help me become a more reflecting, open-minded, and creative person.” (GERMAN FEMALE 1). Yet another learner commented on the effect of this pedagogical approach in greater detail:

On a more general level I have really enjoyed the genius journey; I have to be honest and admit that at the beginning I was a bit unsure about the outcome of the class and I didn’t really know if becoming more creative was just a utopia or something feasible but class after class I kept being more and more fascinated by the topic. Also, the Genius Journey notebook with the exercises really helped me. I had to write down things I have never thought about, and it is very hard. I also enjoyed the Genius Journey on a scholastic level. In a certain way, it has been one of the hardest courses that I have ever done: it is much easier to write papers about a specific topic because it is all about having good references, but in this specific case I was my only reference, and I had to investigate myself in order to do the exercises.—ITALIAN FEMALE 1

The same learner also highlighted the importance of experiencing this pedagogy both individually and as a member of a learning cohort, and also showed an intuitive sensitivity to Kolb’s experiential learning cycle:

Therefore, the journey had two perspectives: the internal and individual one and the collective one. The former concerned the exercises in the Genius Journey notebook and the practice in my everyday life of what I learned during the class: it was sort of the interior dimension of the itinerary. The latter concerned the classes and the trips outside that we have done together and also the fact of sharing personal experiences and thoughts.—ITALIAN FEMALE 1

4.4 Creative Leader Candidates’ Views on the Various Pedagogical Tools

In the present study, we also investigated prospective creative leaders’ in-depth views on the usefulness of different pedagogical tools used in the Genius Journey program. This qualitative feedback ties into the respective quantitative feedback in an earlier study (Reis et al. 2018). Figure 2 provides an overview of the key pedagogical tools of the Genius Journey program, and where they feature in the program schedule.

Fig. 2

Overview of the pedagogical tools used in the Genius Journey program

4.4.1 Check in Audit/Check out Audit Tool

At the start of the program, prospective creative leaders fill out a survey that raises their awareness on their limiting mindsets. A roadmap visualizes the results of this Genius Journey Check-In Audit and flags up critical destination stops where learners have to overcome limiting mindsets and routines that currently prevent them from reconnecting to their inner creativity. One learner described the value of this tool as follows:

To learn more about myself, I enjoyed filling out the “Check-In Audit” of the Genius Journey. The result of the questionnaire is charted in the “Genius Journey Focus Map” At every stop, there is a gap between my current and desired state. The largest gaps between my current and desired state can be observed in stop two and nine of the genius journey.—GERMAN MALE 1

Post-program, the creative leader candidates repeat the audit exercise to track and map out their progress in a check-out survey. All learners reported that their creative leader potential increased (range of 30–100% with an average value of 70%). Interestingly, more reflective creative candidates tended to rate their progress more conservatively (after all, rating one’s creative leadership potential is relative, and depends whether you compare yourself with your study peers and fellows at work or with a Leonardo da Vinci):

I know that I haven’t closed all of my gaps, which I initially identified during the Check-in Audit at the beginning, substantially. Some of them decreased already (e.g. my ego and being critical), but for most of the gaps I realized during the last 12 weeks how big they really are. Today, I rather shift the scale of my gap-analysis than seeing gaps as closed.—GERMAN MALE 3

4.4.2 Creative Leader Self-Study and Portraits

In parallel to the first nine-course sessions of the Genius Journey program, each learner needs to study the life of one admired creative leader. Later on, they need to sum up their learnings in a report and a pitch presentation for the entire learning cohort. The diversity of creative leaders selected includes business leaders and innovators (such as Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson), universal or scientific geniuses (like Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Isaac Newton, and Benjamin Franklin), spiritual leaders (such as Jesus of Nazareth, Gautama Buddha, and Lao Tze), political leaders (like Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela), sports leaders, top achievers, and kinaesthetic geniuses (including Bruce Lee and Mohammad Ali), and artistic geniuses in the creative arts in the broadest sense (such as Pablo Picasso, Salvatore Dali, Mark Twain, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven).

Most learners provided accounts of how useful this biographical exercise is in animating the contents of the Genius Journey methodology by linking it to the lives and mindsets, challenges, and achievements of their favorite creative leader. Here are some sample comments:

The most valuable homework for me was the creative leader report. I have to analyse my creative leader with the Genius Journey. It can help me fully understand about the concept and how all ten stops apply to people in real life. Also, it shows the result of lacking any stops as well. For example, if Jimi Hendrix can balance himself and be creative without using drug and alcohol, all of his outcome may be much better than what he had done so far.—THAI MALE 7

I highly enjoyed the preparing the presentation on Salvador Dali. Since a long time I enjoy his art and actually have several of his paintings in my room in Germany. I also visited his museum and his house in Spain, which both gave me good insights into his person. By doing this project however I was able to view him from an entirely different angle than I had viewed him before, learn several new things about him, and see how he and I can relate to one another. Seeing how he faced different challenges in life, how he harvested his creativity, lived with his ego, etc. gave me a lot of insights in how I can become a better leader and what things I will have to focus on in the future.—SYRIAN MALE 1

The assignment to study biography of Creative person and analyses his action. It make me surprise very much of what my favorite leadership being, thinking and doing. I can learn many things in that exercise and it is a good lesson for me to use in my life.—THAI MALE 9

One of the most value exercises is the learning about creative leaders. One of the best ways of learning is to learn from the experts, this course provides a very good opportunity for us to learn about great people in the world/country. Their biographies, characteristics and wow moments are a good content that inspire us to believe about human energy and potential that each individual has. The real examples are good tools and powerful guidance that we can apply and take it as lesson- learned.—THAI FEMALE 1

Asking us to talk about our creative leader was a relevant idea. For my part, it made me realize that even the biggest and most powerful leaders went through darker moments before accomplishing outstanding achievements. If I take the example of Yves Saint Laurent, he managed to be one of the most influent fashion designer of the 20th century despite several faults such as the lack of self confidence and shyness. That’s why we have to keep dreaming and believe in our future.—BELGIAN FEMALE 1

Another best idea from the course is the assignment about favorite leadership. This assignment teaches me to find some a model and study about his biography then you will so surprise that how he can does while normal people cannot do or not thinking about it. My favorite leadership is Benjamin Franklin. After I study his biography, I got many ideas to use in my life. That inspire me to study other Creative person to see how they work, how they think and how they act to be the lessons to use in my life—THAI MALE 9

Another thing I have learned so much during the course is when I studied about my Creative Role Model; Blake Mycoskie. His passionate, creative ideas, and courageous to take a step and think big at the beginning, until his success in both donating and business are really realistic and practical in my view. His business start with less than US$3,000 and his knowledge on shoes business is limited but he believes in himself and do it. It makes me realize to let go of all limited points that I used to block myself from what I want to do. To see how much my role model and other who involve both givers and receivers can gain their happiness in life is amazing and truly motivating.—THAI FEMALE 4

The value of this pedagogical tool is twofold: studying one’s favored leader, and learning from the presentations of other learners portraying their favorite leader:

I really appreciate to assist at the different presentation for creative leader. It is very interesting to understand how well known people succeed in their life. I also discover new people such as Jack Ma that has a very interesting profile, starting from nothing and becoming this successful businessman following his own ideas, it was a great example of creative leader. I remember the video that we see about him when he was talking about the different step of the life, what you should do at what age, it learnt a lot from this and I think that I will take it in consideration.—FRENCH MALE 1

What has also been extremely helpful to learn the importance of believing is analyzing the journey of my creative leader, Coco Chanel, and listening my classmates’ leaders journeys.—ITALIAN FEMALE 2

The exercise also raised the awareness level of learners who studied and portrayed spiritual creative leaders that the essential contents of the Genius Journey method align with universal tenets of world religions and spiritual schools of thought (“Especially the Leader Role Model, I have studied and compared Genius Journey and Buddha’s ways which are in line together.”—THAI MALE 5

4.4.3 Genius Notebook

Earlier programs to develop one’s genius potential and personal creativity (such as those of Cameron (1992) and Gelb (1998)) suggest learners maintain a personal notebook during a creative leader development program. The Genius Journey program has adopted this practice and asked creative leader candidates to capture their thoughts, ideas, and insights about themselves and the program in their “Genius notebook.” Many creative leader candidates expressed their appreciation for this pedagogical tool, as the following two accounts exemplify:

One key thing I will take from this course is also that I enjoy to have a notebook to write down my thoughts. For me it doesn’t necessarily have to be on paper, it can also be on the computer though. I find the idea of writing down all my thoughts in itself very intriguing and am certain that this will help me grow substantially.—SYRIAN MALE 1

In the future I will occupy my mind with new ideas and write them down. I did that during the Genius Journey, but also in my spare time to reflect on feelings, situations and ideas that I considered to be worth to rethink again. For me writing down is a strong exercise to really deal with issues and I noticed, once I have written things down for myself, I have a clearer picture about the issue and myself. It made it really easy to open up to other people and talk and discuss about it. Since I recapped situations for myself I felt a strong connection to the truth and strengthen the feeling, who I really am and what is important to me. In that way I feel comfortable in my talks and discussions with other people and it is even easier to explain my thoughts and ideas, without being misunderstood or scrutinized negatively.—GERMAN MALE 2

4.4.4 Peer-to-Peer Experience Sharing

At the beginning of each class session, learners got the opportunity to share how they have applied the genius mindset taught in the previous class and the related homework from the Genius Exercises at work and in their everyday life (thus completing the previous session’s learning cycle of Kolb’s (2015) experiential learning model). Overall, most creative leader candidates appreciated the peer-to-peer experience sharing exercise (called “Dare to Share”) at the beginning of each session. For example, one learner commented:

Dare to Share is one of the most important activity that can make our course more easy to understanding. I think this kind of activity create two-way communication environment and I have shared together with create some question during the class.”—THAI MALE 5

Apart from learning how different learners have applied the concepts in their environment, “Dare to Share” also allowed to get to know other learners on a deeper, more personal level, as one learner highlighted:

In terms of interesting experience, the Genius Journey had greatly contributed to get to know other people. Even though I have already had the opportunity to meet those people in other courses, this one helped us to break through social and language barriers. I truly believe that this course helped us to go beyond superficial relationships. The experience-sharing exercises were helpful to go more in-depth in our relationships. I think that sharing personal anecdotes every week enabled us to get a better idea of whom each of us really was. Besides, it gave us an authentic and true preview of each personality. Also, I have learned that I can sometimes be too judgmental as I have become friends with people I didn’t expect.—BELGIAN FEMALE 1

Interestingly, some creative leader candidates suggested ideas on how to amplify the relevance of the exercise, for example, by “pushing” more learners to share their experiences:

Every class had a dare 2 share, which was very good. This concept could be extended by having people speak about certain exercises and what they experienced. Speaking about things, rather than only writing them down, often makes us understand them better. It also takes courage to share personal experiences, meaning that everybody would automatically improve at several fronts (courage and topic he is speaking about). For example students could have shown their power move and explained why it’s their power move.—SYRIAN MALE 1

In this context, one learner confides why some learners dared to share more experiences than others, as the exercise forces learners to leave their comfort zone:

Concerning the most challenging part of the Genius Journey, I felt quite embarrassed to share my experiences and personal histories in front of people I barely knew at the beginning of the course. In this sense, presenting and defending who was my creative leader was a little bit stressful and challenging for me. I was scared that people didn’t care or understand what I wanted to explain. Everything went well in the end and that has confirmed that I could make it despite the doubts I could feel. It has helped me to overcome the fear of speaking in front of a group. I feel now more comfortable when I have to share or defend my ideas.—BELGIAN FEMALE 1

4.4.5 Creative Puzzles

In most sessions, a creative puzzle was given out to the creative leader candidates. While most creative puzzles found in books and magazines have only one or a few fixed solutions, the first author designed these open-ended creative puzzles to invite greater creativity levels by allowing for multiple or even an unlimited number of solutions. Then, the learners had time until the next session to work out their proposed solution, which they had to pitch to the course instructor. One learner commented on the creativity-building value of this approach as follows:

The creative puzzles are one the best tools that encourage me to think outside the box. They help me to realize that if I keep doing things as the same way or same as the others, I will get the same result, no improvement. Hence, I need to step outside my comfort zone, my cozy box and look at the things at the different perspectives so that I can gain the creative solutions.—THAI FEMALE 9

4.4.6 Buddy Coaching

In our earlier quantitative study (Reis et al. 2018), we found that peer-to-peer coaching and feedback worked well for some but not all of the creative leader candidates. Successful “buddy pairs” seemed to have compatible personalities, learning ambitions, and interests that allowed them to build up the level of trust needed to confide more personal information. For example, one learner shares how well it can work overall:

The Genius Journey reminds me that we are all human with different tastes and personalities. I will now keep in mind that I can get on well with people who first seem different or even strange to me. A striking example was the exchange of the notebook with my buddy. At the beginning of the course, I directly knew that I would undoubtedly get on well with her. Nevertheless, doing this activity with her strengthen our friendship as we mutually learned funny but also most serious stories about each other. That’s why sharing experiences and getting to know people was the most interesting part of the Genius Journey for me.—BELGIAN FEMALE 1

Another learner also emphasized the friendship-building nature of the course program:

I have known more than 20 new friend from more than 5 country which I am not sure I can find this kind of connection from anywhere. During Genius trip we can have more time to get to know each other better and better.—THAI MALE 5

4.4.7 Stream-of-Consciousness Writing

Cameron (1992) recommended in her individual creativity development program to write “morning pages,” which is a stream-of-consciousness writing exercise that helps offload non-conducive thoughts, express feelings of gratitude, and state goals and planned actions for the day, among others. Interestingly, none of the creative leader candidates mentioned this tool, indicated that although the course instructor sees value in the tool, it was not much practiced and liked by the learners. Time limitations are the most likely explanation for this result, as most learners prioritized the weekly homework assignments (Genius Exercises) that led to more direct learnings and concrete applications of the course contents.

4.5 Creative Leader Candidates’ Personal Takeaways

In our earlier paper (Reis et al. 2020) describing the inner hero’s journey of creative leader candidates, we cited vivid examples of the “ultimate boon” (the “reward stage” in Campbell’s (1949) monomyth model) that prospective creative leaders received while going through the Genius Journey program in creative leadership. Among others, learners reported the following specific significant takeaways: acquiring knowledge of advanced creative thinking strategies; using the “body-mind” connection to change emotional states; inducing states of flow; and in a few cases, even experiencing a moment of personal breakthrough creativity. In the present study, we present more general comments on the impact of the Genius Journey program on learners.

Some prospective creative leaders commented that the program “has been extremely touching and it had a strong impact on my life” (ITALIAN FEMALE 2), “helped me find out who I really am, what I really want to do and what I want to be in my life which other business courses can’t give me” (THAI FEMALE 10), “helped to fight a few demons and to feel better, stronger, and more open—to feel more creative and self-confident.” (FRENCH FEMALE 1), and made them do “many things that I have never thought that I will be able to do it.” (THAI FEMALE 1) One learner commented on the impact as follows:

I thoroughly enjoyed the Genius Journey. Knowledge gained from the Genius Journey was beyond expectation. It is much more than learning something for career growth. It was about being able to live a happy life. The dynamics of the Genius Journey are vast, covering and touching on much at all levels (body, mind & soul).—THAI MALE 4

Another learner described her learnings from the Genius Journey program:

I strongly think that the content of the course is very valuable. It is like a journey that takes me through dreams and treasures I seek elsewhere and then find on my doorstep. I can be a genius, and I can be a creative leader. What I have learned is the essential wisdom of listening to my heart and, above all, following my dreams.—THAI FEMALE 9

Some creative leader candidates rightly perceived that the end of the course program is the beginning of their “real” personal Genius Journey and that they need to continue with their efforts to cultivate the mindsets of creative leaders beyond the program:

In this course, I have learned a lot! During the 12 sessions and the eight weeks of this course, I almost constantly think about the Genius Journey Stops, the exercises, and what we discussed in class. Because to me, this course is not only about “course material”; it is about a way of living your life.—DUTCH FEMALE 1

In the past, I used to think about myself how closed I am, and I do not like this side of my personality. I thought that it is something I cannot change. However, the Genius Journey has proven that what I thought was wrong, and I can actually change myself and my behaviors to be a better person and finally be a creative leader. Nonetheless, this is not the end for me, and I will move forward all the time following the Genius Journey path.—THAI FEMALE 4

5 Discussion, Conclusion, and Future Research Perspectives

5.1 Discussion

This study provides practitioners and educators in the domains of innovation, creativity, and leadership development with deeper-level insights into elements of a transformational course methodology and pedagogy needed to develop creative leaders successfully. It casts some light upon why creative leader candidates rated the effectiveness and creativity of both the Genius Journey methodology and the pedagogy as very high in an earlier study (Reis et al. 2018).

In particular, our current study findings:

• 1. Demonstrate the importance of the different elements of both the course methodology and the pedagogy, which integrate into a “Gestalt” that jointly induce a transformational effect on a prospective creative leader as the course program unfolds over a couple of months.

• 2. Confirm the effectiveness of many pedagogical tools used by the Genius Journey program to develop creative leaders (creative leader study and portraits, notebook, in-class and homework exercises, open-ended creative puzzles, check-in and -out audits, review toy), and a potential to further evolve others (buddy coaching, open peer-to-peer experience sharing).

• 3. Indicate that learners make sense of formal definitions and theoretical constructs by personalizing these into more practical interpretations.

• 4. Suggest that Reis’ (2015) Genius Journey model and Kolb’s (2008) experiential learning cycle pedagogically align both on a macro-level (overall program) and on a micro-level (session introducing 1–2 destination stops of the Genius Journey).

5.2 Conclusion and Implications

This study confirms the findings of our earlier studies (Reis et al. 2018, 2020) that creative leaders can be developed effectively and creatively with a training program that blends a literature-based methodology with an experiential pedagogy that unites to form a Gestalt, a well-designed whole that adds more value than the sum of its parts.

We envision our research to have implications for three groups of stakeholders:

• Innovation educators can gain a more in-depth understanding of how their chosen methodological and pedagogical approaches need to integrate to make a creative leader development program creative, effective, and ultimately transformational. Also, educators can obtain ideas on what other creative pedagogical tools they may add to the general methodological activities of their course programs to augment learning and support the acquisition of creative leader mindsets.

• Human capital development officers will gain a deeper understanding of methodological and pedagogical elements of a creative leader development program from a learner’s perspective. This awareness can help separate the wheat from the chaff when selecting both the right creative leadership development program and a competent delivery partner.

• Innovation researchers may gain novel inspirations for future research projects in the niche domains of creative leadership development and innovation education and training.