Ep #082: [Pep Talk] Which Camp Do You Fall Into?

Are you a visionary? Or are you more of a practical thinker?

Most of us lean more heavily one way or the other, and some of us are even solely devoted to just one of those two camps. I see it all the time in the entrepreneurs I work with in my mastermind. We identify as either a creative visionary or a practical realist. 

But according to John Maxwell, in order to be truly successful, a leader has to be able to embody both of these very different qualities and abilities! 

The Visionaries--they are the dreamers. They can picture exactly what success looks like and they can come up with a million ideas on the road to getting there. It’s a beautiful thing to listen to a visionary in full on dream mode. BUT (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?!), many leaders who identify solely as visionaries don’t do enough practical thinking to actually bring these beautiful ideas to life!

The Practical Realists are in another camp. These leaders can see all the steps it takes to accomplish something big and impactful. They want to study every possible angle, they take the courses, they read the books. They often focus on the “how” of making something happen. BUT, many solely practical leaders aren’t able to picture the grand vision of what could be. They often get stuck where they’re at and then begin to doubt themselves.

If you stay in just one of these camps, eventually you get stuck. The idea is to find a mix of both.

As leaders, our job is to dream and envision the future, but we also have to have a practical nature in order to develop the strategy and the action plan to bring that vision to life.

So, determine: are you too much in one camp? What can you do today to start to move the needle toward the middle of the two so that your dream can actually come to life?

www.elizabethhartke.com/podcast/082