Albert Einstein once said that, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” He also said that his wild bohemian hairstyle was a “magnet for chicks.” Sadly, he wasn’t a genius about everything. However, he was an expert on using his own imagination and developing a vision of something that hadn’t been discovered yet. This is the definition of innovative leadership – creating a path somewhere that didn’t exist before.
Often times it’s just one person with a passionate new viewpoint who becomes the leader. History has shown that one person can declare a war. One person can reinvent the way we look at science, and one person can change an industry. The game-changer in the movie industry was Charlie Chaplin. A hundred years ago, Chaplin came fresh from vaudeville to start his film career at the legendary Mack Sennett studios in Los Angeles. The rest, as they say, is history! When Charlie arrived on the scene the Keystone Cops movies were all the rage in motion pictures, and their style was cookie-cutter. The Cops movies were predictably filled with nonstop action that always concluded with a big elaborate chase sequence. Producer Mack Sennett adamantly believed that audiences would be bored otherwise. His equation was simple: comedy equaled constant movement which equaled captivated paying audiences. All action had to be fast and furious – which meant running and climbing on top of rooftops and streetcars, jumping into rivers and diving off of piers. There was no time for nuance in a Keystone Cops movie.
Chaplin disagreed with the Keystone Cop model. In fact, he detested the status quo in filmmaking at the time and set out to challenge it. Charlie was a theater success, and he argued that,“Humor is humor, whether in films or on the stage.” So when he got his chance, Chaplin displayed his superb acting technique, stagecraft and subtle pantomime, which he brought from the theater. He was the first successful silent star to bring emotion to the movies. By contrast, he stood out as the innovative genius that he was. Audiences LOVED him because there was nobody else like him in the movies. Chaplin had the unique ability to evoke tears as well as laughter in his work, and that was the key to his craft and to his success. He used to say, “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and pretty girl.”
You can’t beat an innovative leader with a simple plan.