If you know people that can talk about the future as if it was happening today, then you know someone likely high in generativeness.

Generative people tap into a broad and deep reservoirs of knowledge and insights collected from broad and deep forays into work and self-improvement. They enjoy sharing ideas that may have real-world applications. They keep the big picture in the front of their mind, and want to help make that happen with and through people.

If you are standing up a project, you want generative people on the team. And there’s a simple test.

1. Ask the candidate/prospect about a thing/subject they obsess over.

2. Ask the candidate what they would change about that thing.

3. Repeat step two by asking lots of “Why” and “What Else” style follow ups until there is nothing else.

You’re looking for three things.

1. Frequency a candidate brings up potential real-world applications or impacts of their ideas.

2. Frequency of how often you are engaged by the candidate in ideation.

3. The quality of how well the candidate expresses the limits of their knowledge.