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Here's more on the subtle mechanisms of Clooney's personality and life story:
Achievement of Flow: Flow is the word that researchers have used to describe optimal performance. When an individual is in flow he is being as productive as his talents can allow. Predictably, the greater the intensity and frequency of flow in one's life the greater the success he will realize at work and play. Clooney's work life suggests not only the presence of flow, but the subtle habits and tendencies that foster it to a truly unique degree.
He isn't just a movie star, he's an active participant in his career. He has moved from television to film, and he's propelled himself from actor to director/writer. What he's doing, unconsciously or consciously, is pursuing a delicate balance of comfort and challenge. He doesn't settle for the same, increasingly easy tasks. He said, "I have a real interest in pushing the limits of the industry, because I can. It's something I look to do. And I love working with people who are performing at their very best." He likes seeing in others the thing that he does so well himself. This is the key process underlying flow. He lives on the edge of discomfort with his ambitious choices and it allows a pattern of increasingly automatic behaviors to emerge. It's no coincidence that he now consistently garners Academy Award attention with each new project ("Good Night, Good Luck," "The Ides of March"), as he selects projects that push the envelope of his abilities, and his abilities are getting stronger with each new project.
Humanitarianism: There is a psychological force that underlies well-being, that improves relationships, that induces longevity. It is generativity or the act of contributing and 'giving back' on a societal level. Most of us are too busy keeping our heads above water but if you have the resources and the will, then you can engage in such humanitarian efforts and if you do a whole new level of fulfillment is likely to open up. The sense of meaning, connection and altruism that is unleashed is as healthy for the psyche as omega-3's are for the body. Clooney is a humanitarian of rare proportions. This value of generosity and social awareness probably started with his father, a man whose persona was just as much a part of the journalistic community as it was with showbiz. Clooney was taught to have an awareness of the cultural times, and to measure himself based on his good deeds in this vein. This childhood experience planted the seeds of a social consciousness, an awareness that Clooney has taken into all of his pursuits. This is why, as a filmmaker, he's collaborated so frequently on independent projects and films that aim to express important ideas (not just profits which is the bottom line for Hollywood Studios). On a more global scale, he's defended human rights in Africa, and provided relief in disasters in Haiti, Japan and America.
Social Intelligence: Navigating social relationships in a way that asserts your needs while getting people to like you and trust you is obviously a complicated but critical skill. Listening to Clooney describe how he handles other actors on the set of a film that he is also directing lends insight into just how socially intelligent he is: "It's a very delicate balance because it's a really crappy thing for one actor to tell another actor what to do — it's forbidden — so there is this part of you that knows you're going to be breaking this weird trust." He's got a firm grasp of invisible, but fundamental rules and norms in specific cultural contexts (how actors expect to be treated on the set), and he actively fosters that oh-so-important attitude and approach of gentleness, perspective-taking and compassion.
Self-awareness: This is perhaps the most important psychological skill someone can possess. Psychoanalysts call this "ego strength," as its long been recognized as the most vital process in effective therapy. How clearly do you see who you really are, how deeply do you reflect on your life, and the things you want to stand for, how well do you mold what you stand for with how you actually act in daily life? Someone with high self-awareness can give encouraging answers to these questions. When asked to describe his acting choices Clooney said, "When they do those tributes, those lifetime awards, I want to be able to look back and say that I did things that lasted more than an opening weekend. I want to do important things, things that interested me and leave an impact on the world." It's easy to say it but what was truly impressive was that he thought it to himself awhile ago, and spent the last fifteen years living it out. Not so easy.
His self-awareness was even more evident when he talked about why (as director) he broke his own commitment to himself and assigned the role of Edward R. Morrow to another actor. Even though he wanted to play the role, he knew that Morrow was a figure he needed to be perceived as having 'the weight of the world on his shoulders' and Clooney knew that the public could never perceive him as that person. Knowing how others see you is an advanced level of self-awareness. It's no surprise what he says about the characters that he most enjoys playing (specifically, he cites 'Up in the Air' and 'Michael Clayton'): "I love playing characters who are so confident, so assured, and then as the movie unfolds, everything they thought they knew comes crashing down." He's so self-aware that he enjoys embodying people who seem self-aware, learn how blind they really are, only to eventually be able to see themselves with true clarity.
Kindness: This is another key character strength and clearly a skill that underlies personal life satisfaction and relationships. Clooney, when asked what was the most important characteristic in working with someone, said 'kindness.' "Nothing good comes out of creating space that you don't feel welcome in." Who would have thought a Hollywood star would say something so Buddhist. It's also striking how much he's thought of kindness given that it's one of the least endorsed, least prevalent of the character strengths.
