Michael J. Gelb

The author of 11 books about creativity, Michael J. Gelb has seen sales of his New York Times and Washington Post best-seller, How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day (Dell, 2000), skyrocket to more than 500,000 copies. Four years ago, Gelb moved to Santa Fe with his wife, Deborah Domanski, who has sung at The Santa Fe Opera. In his newest book, Wine Drinking for Inspired Thinking: Uncork Your Creative Juices (Running Press, 2010), Gelb explains how to lead a wine symposium for creativity—like the one he’ll be giving at Santa Fe’s Wine & Chile Fiesta (September 22–26), as he tells Wolf Schneider.

Q: You believe that wine inhibits left-brain thinking and invites more imaginative right-brain expression?

Yes, but you can’t just knock back x amount of wine and say, “Let’s see if I get more creative.” Wine is complex, it’s nuanced, and it can inspire philosophical musings. Everyone from Dante to Galileo used to share wine and ideas that were the ideas of the Renaissance!

Since you are a self-employed creativity consultant living here, do you think New Mexico is particularly creative?

No question about it. You kick a rock here and you find an artist or a healer, so being a creativity consultant, I fit right in. I earn my living helping big companies develop a more creative, innovative culture.

Tell me how.

By giving them role models and learning lessons from the great creative minds of history, like Leonardo da Vinci. I came up with seven principles he applied to art and science. I teach my clients those seven principles and help them apply them to their most important business problems. My role model for practical innovation is Thomas Edison. Creativity is about pure expression, and innovation is about sustained profitability. We identified five competencies for innovating like Edison.

What’s an example of one of those five competencies?

The first one is a solution-centered mindset. Edison was always optimistic. We look at his goal-setting methods, and his approach to continuous learning. You always have to be experimenting, but at the same time, you have to be rigorously objective.

How have you helped Microsoft and Nike promote innovative thinking?

I just facilitated a two-day retreat for 180 Microsoft operations people. In the morning, I taught them the seven principles for thinking like Leonardo; in the afternoon, the five competencies for innovating like Edison; and in evening, a wine symposium. The second day, I facilitated a solution-finding session, applying all the techniques they’d learned on day one to make sense of their self-identified critical issues.

How much do they pay for a seminar of this sort?

A lot! [Laughs]

Is there a New Mexico role model who’s like a Leonardo or an Edison?

Well, Murray Gell-Mann [winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work in elementary particles] lives here! And he’s really into wine. I think minds of his caliber understand intuitively what Plato counseled: If you are exposed to beauty on the outside, the sense of deep beauty within you will grow and nurture your soul.

What was the inspiration for Wine Drinking for Inspired Thinking?

Ted Hughes, the poet laureate of Great Britain, used to teach poetry by having his students meditate on a candle flame, then give them a theme, have them generate words, then turn them into a poem. It dawned on me that his poetry exercise might be more effective with a couple of glasses of wine first!

What are your tips for hosting a wine tasting?

Create a theme. You could compare your favorite New Mexico pinot noir or cabernet franc or sparkling wine with the same type of wine from California or Washington or Oregon.

Your favorite New Mexico wines are Gruet’s sparkling wines, especially their rosé, right?

Yeah, in terms of how good it is and the value. It’s hard to find a good-quality sparkling wine under $20, and that’s, like, $13.

What wine do you recommend with New Mexican cuisine?

For something with green chile, a sparkling wine like a Gruet. For fajitas, say, that’s pretty high-intensity, so a high-intensity wine like a Zinfandel.

How about your favorite under-$20 wine?

Fonterutoli Chianti Classico, 2006. They’ve been making wine for 600 years, and they made some of the wine Leonardo da Vinci used to drink!

Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, and consulting editor of Southwest Art.

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