The Third Skill - Beyond Connecting and Creating

In the first two articles in this series, I described the way in which scientific research involves both “connecting” skills – seeing the relationships among disparate phenomema – and “creating” skills – pursuing and developing those insights so as to achieve scientific breakthroughs. I also observed that “connecting and creating” in tandem serve as the basis of any human accomplishment. Finally, I noted that a performance improviser must master both skills in order to be considered a success on the improv stage.

I left off last time (after a brief messy interlude) with the question: Does a Daily Improviser need to be similarly accomplished at both skills?

In a word: No. As I’ve pointed out, the Daily Improviser does not need to directly use the skills of the performance improviser in order to benefit from the improv “body of knowledge.” She can also adopt the improv attitudes as a means to create an atmosphere that supports those who do possess strengths in the improv skills.

To illustrate this point, we can look to the career of man named William Henry Welch, who lacked a critical scientific skill yet became perhaps the single most influential scientist in the world.

As John M. Barry recounts in his book The Great Influenza, Welch was probably more responsible than any other person for the development of medicine as a professional discipline grounded in the scientific method. Primarily in his role as first dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Welch spearheaded the move to reform medical practice in the United States – a practice that was overrun with fakes and quacks whose “remedies” frequently did more harm than good.

Yet, as Barry notes:

“Welch had been no great pioneer even in his own field of medical research…. He had generated no brilliant insights, made no magnificent discoveries, asked no deep or original questions, and left no significant legacy in the laboratory or in scientific papers.”

Welch’s mind was clearly more drawn to “connecting” than “creating”:

“No question ever aroused a great passion in him, no question ever became a compulsion, no question ever forced him to pursue it until it was either exhausted or led him to new questions. Instead, he examined a problem, then moved on.”

Sounds like the classic surface-skipper – someone we might even today label “A.D.D.” I get the sense that Welch would have been an ace Da Doo Ron Ron player but would have been thoroughly outclassed by Einstein – the exemplary “connector-and-creator” – on the Harold stage.

So, if Welch’s skills lay primarily in connecting but not creating, how did he ever gain such influence? Barry provides an answer that points to a third skill required for any successful endeavor:

“Welch’s real genius lay in two areas. First, he had not only knowledge but judgment. He had an extraordinary ability to hear someone describe his or her experiments, or read a paper, and immediately define the crucial points still obscure, the crucial series of experiments needed to clarify them. It was as if, although he could not himself conjure [i.e., create], he knew the techniques of conjuring and could teach others conjury. He had an equally extraordinary ability to judge people, to identify those with the promise to do what he had not done.



“Second, Welch inspired. He inspired unconsciously, simply by being himself…. He seemed so centered and comfortable with himself that he gave comfort to those around him.


“Everything about him was positive. His intelligence and the depth and breadth of his knowledge stimulated his teaching as well. He walked into the classroom without notes or preparation, often not knowing what subject he was to lecture on, and in an instant began discoursing lucidly and logically in ways that provoked thought and excitement… Welch’s conversation [had the] ability to make students feel the richness of the world – the world of art and literature as well as science.


“The total effect … made for an atmosphere of achievement … The desire to be like Welch, the desire to win his approval.”

I can’t think of a better description of this third skill – catalyzing. The leadership development group Development Dimensions International defines a catalyst leader as one who “inspires others to act” – and in this area Welch was clearly a master. Welch himself did not possess all the skills needed to achieve world-changing scientific breakthroughs. Yet, through his ability to create an atmosphere where others with those skills could flourish, he played a critical role in the achievement of those breakthroughs.

In sum, connecting and creating are two key skills needed for any human achievement. Yet the catalyzing skill is also required in order to focus priorities, secure resources, navigate efforts through social and political minefields, and inspire the talents and energies of all participants in the enterprise.

Finally, back to William Henry Welch. How might we relate his “catalyzing” skills to the world of the stage performer? Barry makes this observation:

“He was personality and theater; he was impresario.”

In short, he was visionary, organizer, producer, fund-raiser, spokesman, tout – a Ziegfeld of the scientific world.