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.