Geek or creative: which personality type are you?

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Posted by Matthew Stibbe

I’m a self-confessed geek. My ex-wife is a creative – an actress. My daily life was once a kind of experiment in reconciling two very different ways of dealing with the world. In an experience-driven economy, the balance or choice ‘geek or creative’ may be the most important thing to get right.

Why is this important? Well, my job involves the same challenge. Writing is 50 per cent technique (geek stuff) and 50 per cent inspiration (creative stuff) and, according to my accountant, 10 per cent arithmetic.

Geeks vs Creatives: finding balance

There’s a similar balance in programming and game design; two other areas of my life. And, perhaps, management.

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I’ve written before about the difference between Looney Tunes people and Disney people and the difference between managers and entrepreneurs. And now, with love and respect to both communities and with a foot in both, here is how geeks compare to creatives.

Geeks Creatives
Introverted Extroverted
How? Why?
Peers Audience
Open source Crowdsource
Data Opinion
Obsession Passion
History Story
Kraftwerk Bowie
The future The moment
Mashable Co.Design
Android Apple
Wired New Yorker
The release The performance
Implementation Discovery
Feedback Praise
Logic Emotion
Look at this Look at me
Linear Circular
Games Real life

 

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