Why Paul And John Needed Each Other To Create The Beatles

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Why Paul And John Needed Each Other To Create The Beatles
By Sahaj Kohli

The Huffington Post

Posted: 08/05/2014

If you’re looking for some creative inspiration, your best bet may be to brainstorm with a friend.

Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs, joined HuffPost Live host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani to explain how John Lennon and Paul McCartney's partnership is a prime example of two brains being better than one for creative genius.

“Lennon and McCartney are the classic case because they were totally aligned in their values, they loved the same kinds of music, they both wanted to make music in a big way, but they’re totally different,” said Shenk. “John was always pushing against convention and Paul was finding a way to make it sound great.”

Along with Lennon and McCartney, Shenk names Warren Buffett’s investment success and Martin Luther King’s leadership during the Civil Rights Movement as examples having “critical relationships operating behind the scenes.”

“This whole idea of the individual being the root unit of understanding human life, as well as creativity, of course, is really coming into question,” said Shenk whose book is “not just looking at two people interacting in physical time but the way creativity is always a dialogue.”