Cathy and I had a great discussion this week on business owners and the different types we consistently run into. The equation of what makes an entrepreneur or business owner successful seems complex, but to us its pretty simple!
Most often we run into business owners and partners and they have a mix of skills and predominant modes of thinking. We have heard it described with many names like the visionaries, the doers, the finders, the minders and the grinders. From our perspective though, there really are just two classes we run into;
- Visionaries – The visionaries and finders are idea people, they throw ideas and concepts around. Amazing minds they are however finishing is not their strong point! Squirrel… They are strongest thinking about what can be, but least effective at making it happen.
- Doers/Operators – These are the get it done people in the organization, they are often the main reason visionaries’ ideas ever come to fruition. They are simply the finishers and thrive on getting things done in building our companies.
Fact of the matter, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, one theme remains. No one is more important. In fact, the most important one to you – is the one you are not! As when the two work together amazing things can happen. However, out of balance you will find yourself at odds on what to do next for growth and your organization suffers in terms of growth and creativity.
Visionaries without a “can do get it done” backer, will circle with idea after idea and struggle to complete. They love talking concepts and work amazingly well in the idea world – however, bringing those concepts to reality can be a real struggle. Without the doer, translation taking ideas into action (to demonstrate to others in the organization), visionaries run the risk of confusing their people, resulting in frustration and hard growth cycles.
Operators without vision will redevelop and continuously fix internal processes, feeling they are improving the organization. They are driven to improvement and without visionary ideas, will redo / redevelop the same processes over and over with the potential to eventually strangle the company through killing innovation and growth.
Together these minds are an amazing thing. Both can actualize their strengths and in those short windows of alignment, company growth is easy. Look at the likes of Steve Jobs and Jonathon Ives for example.
If you are frustrated in your business and it’s not creating the results and growth you are after, then get honest with yourself, be who you really are and find the right match to support you and your company growth. Ask yourself;
- Do I really have a vision of the future?
- Do I really have the staying power of the doer necessary to execute a vision in my company?
- Have you been running your business for so long you struggle to know which side of the equation you actually rest on.
At a basic level, you have to know who you are and you have to know who fills the other role for you, and vice versa. Most challenging in finding the other, is you probably don’t even know what that person operates like! Find the key to couple your company vision with execution to realize the potential in your company.