Take a closer look at the statue in the photograph. Would you call him a Thinker or an Implementer?What about you? Would you classify yourself as a Thinker or as an Implementer?
What are the words/phrases we associate with a “Thinker”? Intelligent, Brooding, Sure footed, Reflecting, Intellectual, Philosophical - are some of the positive ones. Indecisive, Not so sure footed, Risk Averse, Slow, Less energetic - are the not so positive ones.
What are the words/phrases we associate with an “Implementer”? Fighter, kaam kar lega, “fist pumping, chest thumping - no odds are too high for him”, “Sleeves rolled up, sweat dripping from forehead, on the battle field guy”, crisis manager, never says no – are some of the positive ones. Tunnel visioned, Can’t dig beneath the surface, Knows the whats but not the hows and whys, Can’t think beyond the obvious - are the not so positive ones.
Compare the positives and the not so positive words/phrases for the two categories and you would see the point I am trying to make. We tend to classify “thinkers” and “implementers” as two mutually exclusive sets. If you are good at thinking then you surely are not so good at implementation. If you are good at implementation then you surely are not so good at cognition. Our day to day lives abound with examples of this belief in action.
We tend to classify certain jobs as requiring more/less brains than other jobs. Consequently we classify them as “our type” or not “our type” of job. Certain jobs require you to get your hands dirty – you get to know the ground realities in such kind of jobs. Certain jobs require more grey cells – we should do these jobs after we have got our hands dirty.
The belief also gets reflected in the way we take many of our people related decisions: “He is a thinker. This job requires someone with action orientation”. The belief also gets reflected in the way we approach situations – “This is a crisis situation. There is no time to think; let us act”: “If you think, you can’t act fast enough”: “This is a complex/critical situation. Take your time! Give it a lot of thought before you act!”
I am not sure as to how thinking and implementing can be separated from each other.
Almost everyone I have asked “Are you a thinker or an implementer?” has chosen one of the two options – have hardly come across anyone who says that I am both. But when I ask them to recollect instances where they have displayed cognition and/or implementation, they are able to come up with situations in both cases.
By the way, “The Thinker” is the name of the statue! :)
-
Sourav
I have always had a certain discomfort in working with people who tend to take pride in the fact that they assume themselves as thinkers and for some strange reason portray their inability to act as some kind of "holier than thou" attitude...
ReplyDeletethere seem to be too many thinkers around but what we need is a set of people who can get things going...
a thinking being without the action for it is a dead being...
I am reminded of an old Armed Forces saying here..."Bad officers are not those who take wrong decision...they are those who don't act at all...because inaction gets men killed...it loses wars..."
"Thnker or Implementer" is a wrong question. So we are sure to get the wrong answer!!
ReplyDeleteMicheal Angelo said it well in his sonnet:
"The marble not yet carved can hold the form
Of every thought the great artist has,
And no conception ever comes to pass
Unless the hand obeys the intellect."
The real question is whether our 'Hand obeys our intellect.' That is an uncomfortable question to answer. ;)
Vivek