I write about my ideas about money and freedom and how they are both one and the same.
Published on August 30, 2004 By FreeMark In Misc
Let me tell you a story about dreamers…

My company bought another company. As it happened they both had a location in the same area that they decided to consolidate. For my department they decided to place a guy from the purchased company in charge. His name was Bill.

One day my boss let me know a little bit about Bill’s philosophy.

Bill believed that there were two kinds of people who worked for him…Dreamers and Doers. The Dreamers thought up the work, the Doers actually did the work.

This philosophy was relayed to me second hand, of course, but I could see some truth in it by the way Bill treated his two sons. One of his boys was very industrious, he was a Doer. He was always hard at work getting things done. But Bill had a problem with this boy because he always questioned and reasoned the practicality of what was being done. Most of what was being questioned where the things being thought up by Bill’s other son, the Dreamer. The Dreamer was always searching for the next grand project to be a part of. The Dreamer was always thinking of new and clever ways to add bends and turns to something straight forward. He was also very positive about a project right up until the moment that he bailed on it (he almost always manages to bail before the project fails)

I think Bill loved the Dreamer because everything was a production. I think he hated the Doer because everything was a problem. He could not understand how the Doer failed to deliver the things that the Dreamer envisioned.

I once watched Bill in a conference call with his boys and watched his face fill with love as he talked to one and with anger and frustration when talking to the other. I did not need to be prompted on which one he was talking to. He was fascinated by the Dreamer and frustrated with the Doer. I don’t think it ever occurred to Bill that his Dreamer was often designing mountains too tall for the Doer to climb.

In more concrete terms it was obvious to me that the Doer could be counted on to get it done. It might take longer than management wanted (but usually the amount of time he warned it would take). It might not be as grandiose as they desired. It was also never a production, just a guy getting his work done.

On the opposite end the Dreamer was always going from one project to next. Everything was a vision, everything had a grand title, and everything was a big deal. When the Dreamer took a poop he made sure and do it in grand fashion. He routinely failed to deliver on any of his promises but he always impressed the crowd with the spectacular way in which he failed.

So when Bill was tasked with a major project naturally he went to his main man to run it. In no time the Dreamer was whipped into an incredible frenzy. This would be the icing on the cake. This was the Dreamers chance to really push us forward and get us where we need to be. This is what he was born for … center stage.

Naturally all of the Doers, and I include myself here, where made subordinate to the Dreamer. He promised to deliver the project in record time and, to make sure of that, he would personally build the least important but most visible piece of the puzzle. He was in charge of the sexy.

Time marches on. One by one the Doers deliver their piece of the project. My recollection of it is that we did it without the Dreamer’s help but I may be a bit jaded. To be sure he insisted on weekly conference calls with all of the Doers and select upper management types. It was important to keep the show rolling. But I don’t remember the meetings actually accomplishing anything.

So finally the deadline rolls near and the project is revealed and there is something not quite right. It was one of those magical occasions that upper management was not fooled by the wool that a Dreamer tried to put over there eyes (at least not completely). It was obvious to the Doers that the Dreamer had not delivered but for once it was also obvious to everyone else.

So Bill gets fired. They make no secret that it is because he failed to deliver on the big project. But what happened to the Dreamer? Wasn’t it really him that failed? What do you expect happened to him?

He was immediately put in charge of delivering big project mark two. So now he is given another opportunity to deliver what he said he would do in the first place. Somehow he manages to do it this time, barely squeaking by (and late of course).

Fast forward some more and I find myself a part of his team on another big project. I am placed on his team because, again, he has failed to deliver on his promise. Part of his excuse was that he did not have enough Doers. I have been on his team for six months now and we are six months late. June was our last drop dead, had to have it done or else, date, and it went by without so much as a mouse fart. Here where are still not done.

The Golden Haired Boy has failed to deliver again. He has managed to extricate himself from the project to some degree but I am not sure it is going to help him. Bill is gone and my boss is in charge now. He expects results and is mad that he is not delivering them. He keeps asking me what is wrong but I won’t tell him. Fixing the debacle is his job, I am here to do my part but I am not going to tell on the Dreamer.

But I now know what the problem is:

Dreamers are useless.

Dreamers have vision but no plan on how to achieve that vision.
Dreamers have grand ideas but no clue if those ideas are practical.
Dreamers like to dream up other’s work, they do not like to actually do the work.

The problem of Bill’s philosophy is that he does not see that the Doers have vision, that the Doers have ideas, that the Doers have imagination. These qualities exist in them but are tempered by the practical as I believe they must be. It is the dreams of the Doers that can actually be turned into realities for everyone.

So it is not enough for me any more to be a Dreamer. Anybody can think up a grand idea, it isn’t even difficult. No, you have to have more than that. You have to have a plan. You have to be organized. You have to be practical. You have to make concessions. You have to make decisions. You have to work hard. You have to do whatever it takes to get from A to B. You have to be single-minded in that goal and not stop until you get there.

Dreamers cannot do that because when this Dream gets too hard you just make up a new one and go there. Dreamers want to get from here to there without all that messing around with the stuff in the middle. That’s why they never go anywhere. Thats why they never accomplish anything.

I am done with Dreamers.

Comments
on Aug 30, 2004
WRONG WRONG WRONG.

If you think it easy to innovate why are not everyoen rich with the "next big thing". Even the Japaneese they were good at production efficiencies I will given them that but priority one was not innovate. Good old fashioned AMERICAN innovation. Yes there is always a need for the worker bees - and I don't know about subbordinate usually it is side by side best. The problem seems to be management with you and yes that is another difficult task. In my experience it is very easy for a detailed Nitty Gritty person to put down the innovators but usually look around your company there is 1% TRUE innovators - why? Because it is hard and takes a lot of time and a certain kind of thinking.

You sound like a worker bee - you should be comfotrable with that and not blame what you call "Dreamer" . This was bad management pure and simple schedule pressure and not managing the featuyres set - typical product develepment 101 - no suprises here. But there are different kinds of people maybe if you are a Captial "D" Doer then you should go for work at a safety-pin factory.

ok maybe only Dreamers are useless but VERY GOOD Innovators they are one in a million. I mean look here at the legions of salivating fans that follow around Steve Jobs because he put a little hard drive in a white box and called names it IPOD.

Somethings to think about
on Aug 30, 2004
Excellent article and right on the money,youre right most people bail when it involves work. They just want the glory.Another thing the doers come up with great ideas which the dreamers often steal and call thier own....never trust corporate bastards they very shifty.Most of them are the company SUCK UPS.
on Aug 30, 2004
Dreamers are just fine when paired with doers, and as long as both sides can communicate on a level above judgemental whining or bitching....
on Aug 30, 2004
Very interesting...I do agree to an extent....but without dreamers where would the world be...for the dreamers are needed to point in directions we may never had turned our heads to had they not. We need both dreamer and doer...they go hand in hand.

But I asolutely understood and appreciated your article and that particular circumstance regarding dreamers and doers is perhaps an unfortunate one but there are others.....Martin Luther King said...'I have a dream...'

Let the dreamers dream as they lead us to different horizons....and the doers take us there.
on Aug 30, 2004
I think that the scenarios in the original topic is more of a case of favoritism and misplaced appreciation, than about being dreamers and doers. Some people are just all-talk-and-no-substance - everything they say sounds good and of course they are very good at talking themselves out of spots too. Not helping is the blind upper management who can't appreciate those who are truly capable of getting the job done.
on Aug 30, 2004
Crusader, you were the one to inspired me to write this but it is not really about you. This is really about me. I am chaining up my inner dreamer because for far too long he has been dreaming and not doing. I plan to lock him away...but I will occasionally consult with him but he can no longer be in charge. He cannot lead because he does not know the way...but he might be usefull when I get stuck and have nowhere else to turn. I believe that those you would use as Dreamer counter-example must have done just the same.

It was not just a dream that marched in all those rally's with Dr. King. It was not just an idea that put computers in people's homes. Somewhere along the line they took a chance. Somewhere along they stopped being Dreamers and became Doers. The ideas are the easy part

Dr. King and Jobs are not Dreamers in my mind, in fact innovators is a perfect label for them. No, the Dreamer in my story will never accomplish much more than accidental success. I am convinced of this.

He wants to dream and dream and when he starts to become work he wants to move on to the next dream.

It is bad management and I suppose I did want to rant a bit about that. Mostly I just thought it was useful to use something that makes me angry in a way that makes me humble.

I am a Doer who is a Dreamer who wants to be an Innovator. Now there is nothing left but to Do it.
on Aug 30, 2004
FreeMark: This is an excellent article, and a compelling read. I don't know if I agree completely with your conclusion . . . I think that there is a place for dreamers . . . but as far as productivity is concerned, doers are far more valuable because they can understand the logistics and can forsee possible snags. They see the reality of a project. Great post. I enjoyed it.

on Aug 31, 2004
FreeMark,

Funny.....I had a feeling I may have been in there somewhere.....
I have to slightly correct what I wrote previously....I think 'Dreamer' and 'Doer' do go hand in hand but that we , each of us , have them both as part of our being....we need , as individuals, to be both 'Dreamer' and 'Doer'.....it is only that in different people there is either the dominant 'Doer' and recessive 'Dreamer'....or dominant 'Dreamer' and recessive 'Doer'....or in some lucky people they come naturally together in perfect unison....they compliment and aid each other.....as a well communicated marriage.
I would admit freely that I have a dominant 'Dreamer' with a recessive 'Doer' but I am not concreted this way and I know if I apply extra pressure on my reccessive 'Doer' when I really need it, I can get the 'Doer' in me to take a bit more of the workload and eventually after I have trained him consistently my "Doer', though still recessive, is fit and nimble and ready to help out the 'Dreamer' in me.

I think you, my friend, have a dominant 'Doer" with a recessive ' Dreamer' who is just dying to pump up...buff it up a bit...work those dreams....and get up there with his mate, 'Doer' and shake his booty a little.......why not go out on a limb and have a suprise engagement party for the two ...hey!?!.....Get them working as a partnership......I've seen how they've been looking at each other lately........it's a match made in heaven....all you have to do is give them your blessing.......and the rest is up to them!!

Seriously, do what makes you happy ......