Are you someone who plans everything to the nth degree?
Cautious in your approach, maybe averse to risk? You come up with good ideas, know a lot about a lot, but often find yourself not taking action.
Or do you come up with new ideas and jump in with both feet. You give it a go. After all what could possibly go wrong?
Let’s discuss two types of personalities. Thinkers and jumpers. Watch here – or read the full transcript below:
Transcript
Are you someone who plans everything to the nth degree? Cautious in your approach, maybe averse to risk? You come up with good ideas, know a lot about a lot, but often find yourself not taking action.
Or do you come up with new ideas and jump in with both feet. You give it a go. After all what could possibly go wrong?
My name is Rashid Kotwal. Let’s discuss two types of personalities. Thinkers and jumpers.
At the extremes Thinkers go ready, aim, aim, aim, aim. But they never pull the trigger and implement.
Extreme Jumpers jump off tall buildings with both feet without a parachute thinking “I’ll find a way to break my fall on the way down.”
We all sit somewhere on the spectrum.
Let’s start with Thinkers.
Every organisation needs thinkers.
At a high level, Thinkers are the ideas people. The strategists and long term planners. They’re deep thinkers who evaluate all the pros and cons of any course of action. They worry about what could go wrong. They take a slow and steady approach which minimises risk.
But if left to their own devices, they may never implement those strategies and ideas.
Perhaps not unsurprisingly, a primary driver for a deep thinker is fear.
Fear of making a mistake. Fear of not having enough information to decide a course of action. Fear of what could go wrong. At the extreme they need everything to be perfect before they can act. Which of course is impossible.
So they do everything possible to minimise risk. Which may mean not taking any action whatsoever.
Professions like finance, legal and pure research institutions naturally attract thinkers.
Imagine having an organisation made up of only Thinkers though.
Everyone sitting around gazing at their navels. Or constantly debating what needs to be done. Mind mapping possibilities. Looking for flaws in the arguments. Nothing would get done. No product will ever get made, nothing would be delivered.
Jumpers though are the implementers. While they have fears like the rest of us, the fear doesn’t necessarily paralyse them. They’re willing to take risks. Hopefully calculated ones.
They say, “Let me try this. Let me take this apart and see what happens. Let’s get out there and wing it”
They don’t need safety nets. They don’t overthink problems. The solution will appear as they move forward.
Every organisation needs a combination of Thinkers and Jumpers. Ideas and action people.
Diversity is the key to business success. You need both types of personalities to balance each other for long term success.
And if you’re a one person band, find a coach or mentor who’s the opposite and can balance out your natural tendencies.
And my last piece of advice applies regardless of whether you’re a thinker or jumper.
Your mindset should be to adopt a healthy middle ground that ensures you take action while recognising where the risks are.
Now work out your strategy and take small steps and correct course as you go. That way you consistently take action moving towards your goal.
Till next time, this is Rashid Kotwal.
