Rational examples

Lucille Ball (ENTJ) – When she was fourteen years old, Lucy took charge of her own life by defying her mother and dating a 21-year-old hoodlum. She got a reputation as a “wild girl” and dropped out of high school the next year. Hoping her daughter’s obsession with getting into show business would straighten her out, Lucy’s mom enrolled her in a school for the dramatic arts in New York City. When Lucy was only sixteen years old, she persuaded her mother to let her stay in New York to pursue a career, eventually finding work as a model.

Lucy finally made it to Hollywood when she was 21 years old. After receiving a contract with RKO Radio Pictures, she attended an acting workshop that was taught by Ginger Rogers’ mother. Lucy recalled: “I liked it, I enjoyed it, I was learning.”

By the time Lucy approached her 40th birthday, she had appeared in 75 movies and shorts for a variety of studios but still wasn’t a star. But along the way she discovered that comedy was the best genre for her. She credited Buster Keaton with teaching her about timing, how to fall, and how to use props. She gained more knowledge when she co-starred in movies with comedians Red Skelton and Bob Hope.

When Steamboat Willie became an instant hit, everyone wanted to imitate the new art form. Walt knew more about the process than anyone and used it to gain a foothold in the animation business. His strategy was to open a recording studio that others would pay to use. To be more efficient and better use the talents of his own animators, Walt hired a separate layout artist to specialize in that task.

He stayed on the leading edge of innovation by introducing Technicolor to animations in 1932. He also hired Don Graham, who spent nearly a decade teaching Walt’s team of animators “action analysis” and ways to convert two-dimensional graphics into the illusion of moving three-dimensional action. Walt explained: “First thing that I did when I got a little money to experiment, I put all my artists back in school. Art schools that existed then didn’t quite have enough for what we needed. So we set up our own art school. We were dealing in motion, movement and the art of movement, the flow of things, action and reaction.”

He stunned the world with the first full-length animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which the American Film Institute listed as one of the 100 greatest American films. To ensure as much quality as possible, he hired a teenage dancer to dress as Snow White and act out her part, allowing the artists to study the way she moved and capture her grace and realism. He hired actors to portray other characters for the same reason. He even had the animators take acting lessons so they could study their own movements and facial expressions. Besides educating his staff, Walt also used the most advanced technology of the time: Technicolor and an improved multiplane camera he had built to create realistic 3D effects.

His patented multiplane camera was eventually inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and used to make many other animated movies, including: Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Bambi (1942), Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Jungle Book (1967), and The Little Mermaid (1989). Fantasia had the additional honor of being the first film released with stereophonic sound.

In 1939, Walt built a new studio, designing it for efficiency and a sense of community. Underground tunnels linked some of the buildings, and the 51 acres included a movie theatre, sound stage, cafeteria, gymnasium with a professional trainer, and gas station where employees could get their cars repaired while at work. Employees also enjoyed the landscaped grounds, ping pong tables, and the ability to telephone to have food delivered to their desks.

Each time Walt took on a project, completing his vision became his top priority. Regardless of how little cash he had, he spared no expense to fulfill his dream. There were many times that he was overbudget, didn’t make any profit, and was unable to repay debts—but he would listen only to his inner voice. In 1943, Walt stated: “It is not visionary or presumptuous for us to anticipate the use of our own medium in the curriculum of every schoolroom in the world.”

He also said: “Humans learned life’s lessons by seeing real things or pictures with their eyes for ages before they began learning through written or spoken words, so it is not strange that they still learn most readily by pictures. The animated cartoon can set forth anything from a world in evolution to the whirl of electrons invisible to human eyes; can produce a mosquito tall enough to tower over a village or a fairy small enough to dance on a leaf; can get inside a complex machine, slow down its action, explain its operation to apprentices with a clarity impossible in any other medium, and can even get inside the human body.”

In 1948, he created the first nature documentary, Seal Island, and launched the highly successful True-Life Adventures series of documentaries. Walt explained: “Picture audiences want to know things rather than escape realities, so long as they are presented as entertainment.”

There are many examples of his ingenuity: inventing cartoon characters, solving technical problems, and adding so many quality enhancements to animations that he changed animations from “throw aways” to a new art form. He outdid himself again when he made Mary Poppins (1964), successfully combining live actors with animation along with outstanding music and an endearing story. Even getting the funding for Disneyland took some creative thinking. He agreed to host Walt Disney’s Disneyland (1954–58) to provide the finances he needed while educating the public about an exciting travel destination at the same time.

He planned to build an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), a small city that would test new materials, ideas, and technologies and be a model for the world in city planning. He intended EPCOT to be a “real city that would never cease to be a living blueprint of the future.” It was to include commercial, residential, industrial, and recreational areas all connected with a transportation system designed to avoid urban sprawl. Walt’s unexpected death prevented him from completing his last vision. Instead, EPCOT was redesigned to became one of the theme parks in Walt Disney World.

Muhammad Ali (ENTP) – Confident and already thinking ahead, at age 16 he boldly telephoned his future manager and told him he was going to be the next Olympic boxing champ. That was two years before he won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics. When he was 21 years old, he correctly predicted he would be the youngest World Heavyweight Champion and later predicted he would win in eight rounds. He did it in seven. The next year, Ali beat Liston in the first round.

Early in his career, he was both strategic and analytical.

Sonny Liston was the Heavyweight Champion at the time, a formidable opponent that others refused to fight. The manager of the British champion said, “We don’t even want to meet Liston walking down the same street.”

Yet Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) went out of his way to publicly taunt and provoke the reigning champ:

Leonardo da Vinci (INTP) – No single individual defines the term “Renaissance Man” better than Leonardo da Vinci. His insatiable curiosity and inventive imagination helped make him one of the most knowledgeable and diversely talented people to have ever lived. Fascinated by how nature and other things worked, he created an enormous output of notes, sketches, and detailed closeups that spanned an amazing variety of subjects.

As an artist, he created one masterpiece after another. Less than 20 of his paintings survive today.

Lucy prepared for each episode of I Love Lucy (1951–57) by practicing the physical gags over and over again, rehearsing every move and working out the smallest details until they looked spontaneous. Actor Jim Nabors described her as an analyst who figured out what was funny ahead of time—and then did it.

She was the first woman to run a major television studio, making it profitable again by choosing to produce shows that met two qualifications:

• The general public would enjoy it.

Not satisfied with simple situation comedies, Lucy’s long-term strategy produced Star Trek (1966–69) and Mission: Impossible (1966–73). Both series generated decades of additional television series and feature-length movies.

There’s not much more to say about Lucille Ball as an iNtuitive Thinker (NT). Most of her accomplishments were due to her love of the spotlight (E), ambition to get to the top, and determination to stay there (J).

Walt Disney (INTJ) – A pioneer of the animation industry, he introduced the world to Mickey Mouse, made animations an art form, created the first nature documentary, won more Academy Awards than anyone in history, invented the world’s first theme park, and created one of the most powerful media and entertainment company in the world.

He had been an enthusiastic artist since he was a boy. By the time he was 18, he was a fan of cartoons and thought he could do better. So he went to the public library and checked out “Human Figures In Motion” and some other books about animation and film making to gain the knowledge he needed to get started.

When he was 27, he made Steamboat Willie, the first cartoon with synchronized sound. For the first time, the music, sound effects and characters’ voices were linked to the action, making everything more believable—and a lot funnier!

Famous for its technical innovation, it is also the first public appearance of Mickey Mouse and his girlfriend, Minnie.

• He bought a bus, added “Liston Must Go In Eight” to the bus, and drove it to Liston’s home in Denver at 3 a.m., bringing the press with him. He woke the champ and shouted: “Come on out of there. I’m gonna whip you now.”

• He drove the bus to Florida where Liston was training and repeatedly insulted him, calling him a big ugly bear and talking about using him as a bearskin rug.

• He took every opportunity to use the media to hurl more insults at Liston, earning Ali the nickname the “Louisville Lip.”

His antics were part of his strategy to build up anger and overconfidence in his opponent. Former Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis said, “Liston is an angry man, and he can’t afford to be angry fighting Clay.” Ali explained later that he knew Liston was overconfident and wouldn’t train to fight more than two rounds because he considered Ali nothing more than a braggart. After some wild behavior by Ali at the fight’s weigh-in ceremony (he was fined $2,500), he explained his actions: “Liston’s not afraid of me, but he’s afraid of a nut.”

Ali’s strategy included studying films of Liston’s previous fights. Knowledge is a powerful tool, and Ali’s analysis revealed that Liston had a tell: he moved his eyes to the spot he was going to hit next. Good info, making it much easier for Ali to avoid getting hit and leave Liston swinging at nothing but air.

Ali’s technique of keeping his hands low and his head back was innovative, strategic, and efficient. It lured opponents to swing and miss, as well as allowing Ali to exploit his opponent’s momentary loss of balance with a counter punch.

He became World Heavyweight Champion when he beat Sonny Liston in 1964 and earned the title a second time a year later. But in 1966, Ali was banned from professional boxing for refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam War.

By the time the U.S. courts allowed him to box again, more than three and a half years had gone by and Ali’s amazing speed had dwindled. So he came up with a new strategy to win back the World Heavyweight title. He built up his endurance for the infamous Rumble in the Jungle fight against George Foreman.

While earlier in his career, he was master of the ring and stayed away from the ropes, Ali’s “rope-a-dope” strategy was to stay pinned against the ropes, cover his face and body with his gloves and arms, and let the champ hit him at will. Foreman’s punch was considered almost deadly, but Ali repeatedly trapped his hands to keep him from throwing real punches. Ali also leaned heavily on Foreman during clinches and put his arm around the back of Foreman’s head and neck to further tire him.

Foreman described the fight from his point of view: “I beat him up the first round, beat him up the second. Third, fourth. But he’s still there talking to me in the fifth. ‘That all you got?’ I said, what in the world have I run into? This guy was still confident, he was getting more confident. I had a fight on my hands.”

Foreman spent his energy throwing punches without earning any points while Ali took every opportunity to shoot straight punches to Foreman’s face. By the eighth round, Foreman was weak and vulnerable to Ali’s sudden multi-punch attack that won the fight and the Heavyweight title.

• The Last Supper is a masterful psychological study of Jesus and his disciples at a crucial moment.

• He used a technique known as “sfumato” around the eyes and mouth to create the mysterious smile of the Mona Lisa.

• Savior of the World shattered records in 2017 when it sold for more then $450 million.

Although Leonardo is famous for his work as an artist, he actually spent more time working as an engineer, scientist, and inventor. He worked as a military engineer in Milan for 17 years and dabbled in engineering for years after that. And when he tried to invent a perpetual motion wheel, he helped science along by describing the processes that govern friction.

Many inventions, centuries ahead of their time, are attributed to da Vinci: scuba gear, the parachute, the machine gun, the armored tank, the predecessor to the helicopter, a self-propelled vehicle, and the viola organista, a musical instrument that uses a keyboard, spinning wheels, moving bow, and strings.

With his knowledge as an engineer and artist, it is little wonder that Leonardo drew designs for bridges, chateaus, castles, cathedrals, and even whole cities. As an architect, he was a visionary. For example, his design of Romorantin Palace and garden included a multi-level city center and underground water canals to transport goods in and out of the city. His plans were not simple daydreams, he made sketches that showed his calculations of the breaking strength of an arch to ensure the safety of the upper and lower levels.

Leonardo was certainly gifted, but he also worked hard at pursuing knowledge. His written “to do” list from early in the 1490s included the following.

• Calculate the measurement of Milan and Suburbs.

Hundreds of years before anyone recognized that fossils were traces of dead animals, Leonardo stated that seashells found on mountain tops proved that the surface of the earth changed a great deal over time. He also noted that the movement of water in rivers was the powerful natural force that sculpted the largest features of the landscape. He went on to study the properties of moving water, offering critical insights into the interaction of turbulent water and air.

As a successful artist, Leonardo was given permission to dissect human corpses and made more than 240 detailed drawings of human anatomy along with descriptions. He was a pioneer of medical research, the first person to define cirrhosis of the liver and the build up of plaque inside an artery. He also recorded the effects of age and emotion on human physiology as well as drawing the anatomy of many animals.

• It had potential for long-term acceptance and would do well in reruns.

• Discover the measurement of the duke’s palace and its courtyard.

• Get the master of arithmetic to show you how to square a triangle.

• Get Messer Fazio to show you about proportion.

• Get the Brera Friar to show you the text on mechanics.

• Ask Benedetto Potinari by what means they go on ice in Flanders.

• Examine the Crossbow of Mastro Giannetto.

• Ask Maestro Antonio how mortars are positioned on bastions by day or night.

• Find a master of hydraulics and get him to tell you how to repair a lock, canal, and mill in the Lombard manner.

• Ask about the measurement of the sun promised me by Maestro Giovanni Franceses.