Visionaries vs. Leaders

I hear a lot about big picture people.  I hear a lot about visionaries, the ones who dream big and come up with the big idea.  I also hear a lot about detail oriented people and how they are somewhat less important than the big picture person.  How many times have you heard someone “brag” about how they are “big picture people” and can’t be bothered with details.  They tend to let others do the work and they sit around watching it happen.  You know what?  That is not a bad thing.  The bad thing is when the visionary tries to impact the process and the people by attempting to be something they are not, a leader.

Never been a big fan of that person.  Am a big fan of the detail grunt.  You know, the one that is so particular about things being done, and being done correctly.  The detail grunt is the one with the patience of Job.  Guess what, neither one of those people, “big picture”,or “detail grunt” is a leader.  In order to be a leader, or at least an intentionally successful leader (probably need to write about what an intentionally successful leader is) you have to get your hands dirty.  You have to show your followers what you want done, how you want it done, and how you are going to evaluate their progress.

“But dude, sometimes I do not know how I want it done or how I want it evaluated, I leave that up to my team.”  If you look really closely at your team you will notice that there is one, maybe two people, usually just one, who does the “how” and the “eval”, that’s your leader.  The one who can take the big picture, understand it, and communicate it to others, thereby enabling them to “fill” the picture up with big things, that’s your leader, and the visionary may or may not be that person.

Visionaries can be leaders, and leaders can be visionaries, but just because you are a visionary does not mean you are a leader.  It works in reverse as well, just because you are a leader does not make you a visionary.  How many times have you seen the owner of the company, the one with the big ideas, come in and mess with the day to day routine and make everyone’s job harder, and impact results negatively.  I have seen it numerous times.  The problem is that the owner thinks they are a leader and they aren’t.  Their leaders have already implemented their dream and are making it happen.

If you are a visionary let your leaders work and accomplish your vision, but do not try and teach them to be leaders, you will not be successful and your dream will suffer.  You know what everyone needs?

1. A visionary.
2. A leader to make the vision happen.
3. A detail grunt

Put those three together and you have a “success”.  They can be one person or three but you gotta have all three.  None of which are more important than the other.

Next up “Intentionally successful leaders”