Entrepreneurs, are you a Visionary or a Doer?

Entrepreneurs, or those who want to be, fall into two categories -- the visionaries who are constantly flooded with new ideas and the doers who take action easily and put ideas into place. Either type can find success as an entrepreneur.

VISIONARIES are big picture idea people, insightful, and might miss what's right in front of them (and walk right into a wall) because they are immersed in a theory or long-term plan or idea. They see how ideas fit together, and can easily imagine a completed plan down the road. It's easy for them to see "what needs to be done," but harder for them to...actually do it!

This strength with the big picture means a weakness for taking action. First, it can be much more fun to think up new, fun ideas or solutions, versus implementing them. Second, taking repetitive action -- like knocking on doors or cold calling -- can be boring. Third, action can feel overwhelming for the big-picture visionary to even stop and consider taking action, because they're distracted by their latest invention or idea to bother noticing if they matched -- a mind already full of ideas struggles with "how to take action to implement this idea." 

To remedy this, visionaries can hone their action skills -- by learning to first brainstorm what actions are needed, then making action plans, and eventually working up to a full day of action tasks. This means learning to notice and value those small, often boring, details. Or, giving these actions tasks to someone who gives a damn -- such as partnering with others or hiring employees to do the door-knocking.


DOERS are present-moment people. They live in what's going on today, and in this moment. Action is easy for these types and they excel at it. "Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it." This means that knocking on doors or attacking any goal excites them. With each new door, they feel a growing sense of accomplishment. They can tangibly experience their results, which feels exciting to them.

On the flip side, theory is a bit boring to these people -- why bother with a theory when I'll just deal with what's right in front of me? And they are excellent at dealing with these present-moment situations. They literally are firefighters -- the majority of jobs like firefighters really require someone to be tuned-in to what's going on around them, in that present moment. Figuratively, they are also the "fire-fighters" of offices and businesses who enjoy jumping into a crisis to dissect all of those nitty gritty details, until the problem is solved.

To deal with the "theory is boring" issue, doers can partner with visionaries to work on businesses together, or they can hire a visionary as a consultant to help them build a future vision for their work. Answering the question "what needs to be done" will allow doers to jump into that fire-fighting and attain that sense of accomplishment of completing tasks.

So, we are all leaning more towards being a visionary or a doer. Working on honing your weaknesses can help, or you can simply work with other people who compliment with your strengths.

Comments

Gurmit said…
Very interesting. I think I know where I stand. Thank You again!

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