Earlier in my career as a very young executive with the TM Companies, Ogilvy & Mather became our agency. I met David Ogilvy during one of our day-trips from Dallas to his Houston office; for me a rare career moment fixed in amber. A leading media publisher recently referred to Ogilvy as "The Einstein of Advertising." I'll sign that statement.

In his well-read book Confessions of an Advertising Man, Ogilvy wrote, "Tolerate genius. My observation has been that mediocre men recognize genius, often resent it, and feel compelled to destroy it. There are few people of genius in advertising and media, but we need all we can find. Don't destroy them, they lay golden eggs."

In the echoing halls of my management and consulting memory there exists a mythical file found under "creativity." If it had a caption, it would read, "A core characteristic of a creative person is that he or she will invariably upon receiving information or data, choose a course reflecting the exact opposite of the majority." Creative people walk the sands alone at midnight. They bring us humor and light though sometimes in consort with frustration. They are their own drum and bugle corps, marching to a completely different cadence. In medieval times, they were burned at the stake. Today, they are a gift to any organization serious about transcending "average" or critically in need of brand transformation. And where do we find such people? Are they men and women just like us, separated only by their holding onto something we lost a long time ago? Or, are they of truly different circuitry altogether?

Behaviorist B.S. Bloom at the University Of Chicago probed this question by testing two control groups; one selected for their apparent high level of creativity, the other indexed as "average." From laborious cohort analysis, Bloom could isolate just two essential differences: (1) the creative people he tested possessed an extremely high level of work-obsession (albeit not necessarily conventional), and (2) they tended to be more asocial than social.

So, toward gripping the power of creative people on your floor here are some ADG un-researched, unscientific, and organic observations to work from:

• The creative person is more sensitive to just about everything.

• He or she is not automatically comfortable being a joiner. They may not have a retinue of close friends and don't absorb self-esteem through social acceptance.

• They are independent and assertive; often (but not universally) right-brained. They prefer ideas to process.

• They have the capacity to be puzzled and to specialize in the unknown. They are spontaneous, excitable, compulsive, and complex. Though they can be a leadership challenge they are always an incalculable asset.

Take a good look around. Might your company be practicing a fundamental concept succinctly framed by Conan Doyle? "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself."

Sincerely,