Hi Folks, today I want to talk about three people that you know, innovators, implementers, and maintainers. Then I want to to talk about the importance of each person within a business or community. I hope this weeks message gives you something interesting to think about, and possibly inspiring for understanding yourself and others a little better.
There’s someone you know who has a lot of ideas. You are their confidante, sometimes involuntarily, and they tell you about their million dollar idea. Sometimes you say “dang that’s a good one Gary, you should go for it” to be supportive, and sometimes it really is good. I’ll call this person an innovator.
There’s someone you know who is the most productive person you know. They are always working and always moving. One time I read that if ocean tuna stop swimming then they die. That’s what this person is like but it’s just a metaphor. This person becomes successful in every job that they touch. They are great communicators and have a bias for action and follow through. Amazon likes this type of person. I’ll call this person an implementer.
There is a person you know who’s been at their job for 12 to 14 years. They are consistent and strategic and methodical. They are the kind of friend who becomes one because the both of you simply show up. They can build big results in life because of their consistency and solid footing in their decision making. I’ll call this person a maintainer.
Innovators appreciate inconsistency and irregularity. There’s a thrill to dreaming and this person is good at dreaming and envisioning. But sometimes they don’t follow through. The width of the vision doesn't have enough structure yet to become action. This person needs an implementer.
Implementers appreciate the thrill of accomplishment and achievement. This person is good at making structure out of inconsistency and they’re able to translate it into action and strategy. They dream too but often can’t dream with the same width of vision of innovators. They are good at taking ambiguity of vision and giving it a backbone and giving it the kind of work ethic that makes it reality. But this person runs out of steam after a while, they know their value and like going back to the beginning to build a new vision into reality. This person needs a maintainer.
Maintainers appreciate consistency and predictability. This person is good at taking the communication and structure from an implementer and turning it into results and output, over a long period of time. They are the backbone of America and there would never have been an Industrial Revolution without their work ethic. The ideas and the plans would have been present, but not the critical mass of results.
Ideas can only catch on if there’s enough critical mass of network effect that the idea self promotes its own demand.
And that’s why old companies are so old, they’ve committed to consistency and reach and they have cultures of strategic growth and sure footed decisions.
And that’s why tech startups sell to larger companies, because often there’s a culture of innovation and implementation but an absence of maintenance and strategic long term growth. The culture drives the outcome and if rapid growth is the expectation then those are the people you need the most. But this comes at the price of imbalance.
This is what I’m saying: we all need each other. Maintainers can’t maintain without an Idea to produce. Innovators can’t follow through without a plan to make it reality. Implementers can’t achieve without an idea to translate and a team to hand it off to.
Every person is as important as the next. They are all a part of a greater whole. And you are a part of a greater whole too. You have a purpose and you are built for greatness. It takes humility to accept that you aren’t the other persons abilities. It takes curiosity and honesty and courage to step into working together.
On the temple of Apollo at Delphi there an inscription on the wall..”know thyself”. It’s hard to accept what we’re not. But I hope you can see that it’s empowering too. You have a start and an end. You have a purpose. You have a place of significance and importance in this crazy world and it’s imbedded into the makeup of who you are, always available to improve and never possible to remove.
I hope this message inspires you to see the work of your hands and mind in a new way this week. I hope this inspires you to dig your heels into becoming the best version of who you really are.
-M