In a recent article I wrote how most successful entrepreneurs were not innate geniuses but got their success from relentless trial and error. As several of you pointed out, my description did not account for all of entrepreneurial successes out there. You were right. A recent study by the economist David Galensen suggests that creativity comes in two distinct types: quick and dramatic or careful and quiet.

“Conceptual Innovators” make bold, dramatic leaps in their disciplines when they are young and rarely ever reach again the success they had in their youth. These include Pablo Picasso, Orson Welles, Scott Fitzgerald, Wolfgang Mozart and Paul Samuelson.

“Experimental innovators” progress through trial and error and usually do their important work much later in their careers. These include Mark Twain, Paul Cezanne, Alfred Hitchcock and Ludwig van Beethoven.

You can read the full article on Wired at:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/genius.html