Neculai Fantanaru

Everything depends on the leader

Sketch Your Own Applicative Fantasy

On January 03, 2011
, in
Leadership ART 2.0 by Neculai Fantanaru
Sketch Your Own Applicative Fantasy

Imagination takes shape when light, shadow, and color cease to be mere techniques and become the language of the soul.

If to be honest, not a single day passes without reminding my master, the moments spent with him in his tiny painting studio, which for me had become everything: the center of my universe, a place of meditation where I could freely express my thoughts and feelings, ideas and preferences across the arts. Master was one of those special people who easily win your sympathy, creative enough to arouse your interest; who conquers you even if only through your presence that defies habit, not subject to social conventions, and with whom you empathize a lot.

I remember that once, I watched my master an entire day painting. Yes, from morning till evening I sat beside him, watching him with great interest, trying to absorb as much of his painting technique used with great skill and that I appreciated so much. My soul was filled with joy when I saw him exposing his imagination by choosing as a model an image from a photo, then he sketched it by a game of colors, tones, lights and shadows, shapes, lines, points and contours.

Can your vision be expressed through an art form that combines elements of other art forms into an image capable of depicting the future?

I wanted to ask him how he still manages to make that magical connection between the various actions and objects chosen at random and give them life, finally, to a splendid painting, but I did not. I have not asked anything, I have not interrupted his work. His drawing seemed something detached on half from a novel by Jules Verne, on another half of the Andersen fairy tale.

- Nobody has done that, I commented deeply impressed when the master took a short break. You are unique.

Master laughed. Then, with a smile imprinted on his face and eyes steeped in fascination, he said looking at his nearly finished work:

- You see, Nicu, my kind of art is framed in the same genre as the great painter Hieronymus Bosch. In fact, at the beginning of my career I was inspired by two great works of his "Last Judgement" and "The Garden of earthly delight". These two famous paintings opened my eyes to this kind of art that combines various images, and which expresses the painter's own imagination. They abound with all kinds of messages, settings, characters, creatures and seemingly random objects. Bosh was a revolutionary artist, extracting lessons from the legends, traditions and customs of various medieval manuscripts. He knew how to make artwork, combining, as the great sculptor Bourdelle, several separate concepts: man, life, nature, society, universe, etc. - creating some metaphors that sometimes exceed reality.

Can you create value by effectively combining multiple styles into an image that reflects a vision?

Just as Bosh or Bourdelle have combined ideally the qualities of various things and beings, creating their own metaphors full of essence and style, thus giving life to various myths - so a leader must illustrate in his own leadership "design" a creation that to combine his knowledge in various fields. The most desirable, and also the most effective leader is one who manages to combine elements and attributes from other areas and then connect them to his "work".

For your leadership to gain value must enjoy the input of elements and attributes from other areas. In other words, you need to own knowledge, skills, competencies in as many fields, and then make a connection between them to get something new and valuable. The ideal of leadership is to be really good at one thing - to lead people in the right direction by finding the best solutions to convince them to joint with you, and to consider for this various possibilities. Remember that the genius springs from effort and inspiration, and a flexible mind to adopt practices, approaches and methods that transmit originality, professionalism and a positive vibration.

The power of leadership comes from wisdom to know how to combine science with art, to get what you want, to formulate a new image of the future.

Do you focus on creating a personalized image that expresses a person’s identity as part of a whole that gives direction, meaning, and value to a shared ideal?

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, is considered the most influential figure both through the industry of computers and in the entertainment industry. Recently, the British newspaper Financial Times named Jobs as the Personality of the Year, the main argument being the vision that he has always shown it, managed to bring Apple in the top of global technology with the latest products: iPhone4 device and iPad tablet.

Only an artist devotes his time to such fantasies, is not it? Therefore, I strongly believe that Steve Jobs can be compared, in terms of his original vision and very fancy, with the two great and revolutionary artists Bosh or Bourdelle. Because he manages to “see” and to find new perspectives of interest where others cannot see or dares to find, bringing great technology news.

Jobs always remind his employees - "the ship of true artists" as he calls his team that the timely delivery of products is as important as innovation and attractive design. In other words, Jobs's concern is to stimulate to maximum people's interest in innovation.

On the "ship of true artists" are only those people with special qualities that value the creative imagination and give their lifetime on achievement of a "work" out of the ordinary, worthy of the name of the company they represent, and then leave a legacy to future generations as a model of inspiration.

Can the meaning I attribute to your work be conveyed on an emotional level through a message that offers a new perspective on art?

Conclusion: It’s not enough to possess great powers of persuasion and a strong, well-defined personality; you must also develop the ability to create “fantasies” without distorting reality too much. Continuously enhance your personal value by asserting your vision and initiating a truly revolutionary form of leadership.

Be a "creator of metaphors". Search continuously new meanings and ways for your "performance", so always to send a new message. Discover new fascinating limits, new perspectives and new visions. Explore and experience till endless ideas and new features. Your innovative ideas, with great practical implications, will always make you one step ahead of other competitors. But these ideas require expertise from different fields, involves a special “applicative fantasy” that captures everyone, but also an anticipatory vision of the future.

Impose your own vision on leadership. Shape your own applicative fantasy and be compelling enough for others to accept it.

Join The Neculai Fantanaru Community
The 63 Greatest Qualities of a Leader
Book the 63 qualities of a leader

Why read this book? Because it is critical to optimizing your performance. Because it reveals the main coordinates after that are build the character and skills of the leaders, highlighting what it is important for them to increase their influence.

Leadership - Magic of Mastery
Leadership - Magic of Mastery

The essential characteristic of this book in comparison with others on the market in the same domain is that it describes through examples the ideal competences of a leader. I never claimed that it's easy to become a good leader, but if people will...

The Master Touch
The Master Touch

For some leaders, "leading" resembles more to a chess game, a game of cleverness and perspicacity; for others it means a game of chance, a game they think they can win every time risking and betting everything on a single card.

Leadership Puzzle
Leadership Puzzle

I wrote this book that conjoins in a simple way personal development with leadership, just like a puzzle, where you have to match all the given pieces in order to recompose the general image.

Performance in Leading
Leadership - Pe înțelesul tuturor

The aim of this book is to offer you information through concrete examples and to show you how to obtain the capacity to make others see things from the same angle as you.

Leadership for Dummies
Leadership - Pe înțelesul tuturor

Without considering it a concord, the book is representing the try of an ordinary man - the author - who through simple words, facts and usual examples instills to the ordinary man courage and optimism in his own quest to be his own master and who knows... maybe even a leader.