An Interview with Michael Gelb, author of “How to think like DaVinci”

Michael J. Gelb is a writer and trainer who specializes in personal development and corporate training seminars with organizations such as BP, Nike, Merck, IBM, and Microsoft. Gelb is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning and innovative leadership.  A fourth degree black belt in the Japanese martial art of Aikido, Gelb’s work has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post and Training Magazine. He has also appeared on Good Morning America, CNN’s Business Unusual and on countless radio programs including live interviews with NPR and the BBC World Service.

Chris describes his experience:

From my earliest days of study, I’ve always had an intense interest in Leonardo DaVinci.  Ideally, I could interview the man himself and discover his secrets to success in developing his mind and impacting the world around him.  The best I could do was read books about him, search through his journals, and copy his art.  Then, I read a book called How to Think Like DaVinci and it took my thinking to a whole new level.  And then, I found a way to interview the author, Michael Gelb.  Here are some of the insights I gathered:

I liked how your book targeted specifics about how DaVinci developed himself in his life. How did you how did you go about writing it?

MG:  I experience success when people read my books or come in my seminars and they are inspired to ask questions and think about how they can enrich the quality of their own life.  Leonardo was a perfect representation of human potential.  He represents an archetype really of human possibilities and was universal. The name in Italian is “Uomo universale” – the universal man.

DaVinci was the true Renaissance man.  When I really decided to immerse myself in the subject of his life, I read and re-read his notebooks.  I read all the scholarly works about him.  I went to the place he was born and the place he died and wherever possible I walked in his footsteps.  I looked at the world from his point of view. I remember being in his room where he lived for the last three years of his life in Amboise, France, looking out his bedroom window and imagining how he saw the world. I went to the Louvre and the National gallery and looked at his works.  And I started dreaming about him and it was out of those dreams and that an intense emergence of the seven principles to thinking like Leonardo emerged.

That’s really fascinating.  How you have been able to translate those principles you put together in the book into a format where you are able to teach them in training and seminars, etc.?

MG: Well it’s a natural expression of living those principles myself and applying exercises that are in the book.  Succeeding as a trainer requires immersing yourself in that process of personal growth. You have to learn enough, study enough, and gain enough insight.  The role of somebody who is going to be a trainer or a teacher in the field of self-development is to bring their own unique, original insight and creativity to the expression of those universal ideas.  So I did it by linking it with Leonardo and coming up with seven DaVinci principles.  I’ve also done it in many other formats in other books, based on original inspirations that I had and metaphors that I thought were useful like juggling, chess, or martial arts or from other geniuses throughout history.  For me, those are useful and inspiring ways for people to make a connection with the timeless universal principals.

Kerry Patterson, NY Times bestselling author

Not too long ago, I had the amazing opportunity to interview Kerry Patterson, co-author of the New York Times bestselling book “Influencer”–not to mention the fact that he’s featured in popular media outlets that include the likes of Forbes.  He happens to be one of the most insightful and intelligent people I’ve ever met.  Some of the take-aways from the interview were: 1) Never eat lunch alone (in other words, always be networking with others), 2) Manage your Manager effectively, 3) Impact and influence. 

The third point is elobarated in a highly-recommended article that Kerry and his colleagues put together found here.

We’d like to hear what you have to say about developing yourself, mentoring, etc. 

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