How to Spot a Deep Soul

Outliers, contrarians, nonconformists . . . these are little-understood thinkers who have what it takes to rethink assumptions and discover truly innovative solutions.

Recent research on the future of organizational innovation by Clayton Bunyard found that to compete in the future, such individuals will be required for effective innovation teams. They are not specialists, but people who have deep knowledge in several areas. Sometimes they are called polymaths or Renaissance men or women.

I call them deep souls and they are key to outsmarting change.

Identifying and engaging the deep souls in your organization will help your company lead the future. It may even save your job from getting sucked into the black hole of change.

We’ve created this handy tool with key characteristics and questions to help you spot the deep souls around you. You might even find that you’re a deep soul yourself.

Why Deep Soul Spotting Is Important

The term deep soul may sound uncommon, but deep souls are common people. They can be found in every occupation from accounting to construction. They work at every level, directing multi-national companies from corner offices or checking out groceries in corner stores.

The most important unifying characteristic of deep souls is that they know how to think differently and they are not afraid to do it. Thinking differently is the key to saving the world and it is a deep soul’s superpower.

However, those who think differently are often chastised. Their world-changing ideas (even incremental ones at work) are ridiculed, at least at first.

When deep souls are not understood at work, potential growth is stunted and needed innovation stalls.

The more we spot and nurture deep soul characteristics in ourselves and others, the better off will be our organizations, our communities, and our world. Deep souls solve problems in new ways, and there is an abundance of problems we need them to help solve.

Download our free guide here: 7 Ways to Spot a Deep Soul At Work!

This article originally appeared on Sparkitivity.com. Copyright Sparkitivity, LLC. All Rights Reserved.