I loved this quote when The Grafter’s Jo popped it into my LinkedIn thread. It resonated with me strongly about the role I play on the team. You may have spotted some small banter between me and Rach as a result.
I’ve had a summer break and some dwell time about how we create greatness in a startup and what this magic formula actually means:
Greatness = imagination + execution
It made me ask “are there really specific types of people: those with the creativity and those who can deliver?” Once a person is determined to be The Imaginator, are they forever typecast? Ditto The Executionist? Is it as simple as pair matching?
Intuitively yes – easy! But also, possibly – no. Which I would always say because I absolutely don’t believe that anything is always binary and I love seeing the colour between two paradigms.
I feel like a person will have a score for both. Rach’s Imaginator score is huge but she’s also the original Grafter (hope you liked what I did there 🙂). I’m definitely top quartile on the Executionist scale but would like to think I’ve also got a smidgeon of imagination up my sleeve that fuels my creative side.
In general, it takes some big audacious ideas, bravery, and vision to spawn a company and drive it through all the reinventions it needs as it grows. Founders therefore, are nearly always Imaginators.
I’m a massive fan of getting things done because any brilliant startup can fail if they don’t know how to execute. My role as Chief of Staff is about working with Founders to deliver on the replicable systems and processes they need in place to drive their business growth.
Perhaps then, the mode we operate in is dictated by the role we play and the perspective we have? And that then tells me that these titles can extend to organisations. Often whole businesses can get busy getting things done and dilute the Imaginator’s role, or perhaps swamp it altogether. I see this far more than the other way around, because Executionist heavy businesses die more slowly than a whole company full of Imaginists will. Regardless, the equation has to balance else greatness won’t happen.
So whilst Simon’s quote is about people, it’s also about businesses. What can you do if your sums don’t add up? I hope you saw this conclusion coming… if you’re fighting to get to greatness, working really hard but your maths isn’t working, you’re probably missing your Imaginist quota – someone who can look at your problem and come up with wildly different solutions. What’s the great news? You can find loads of them at The Grafter, give us a shout!
Contact us and tell us what you need.
Written by Verity Baldry, Chief of Staff