Visionary Cat Herding Princes of Execution
March 26, 2007
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That last post about the quote I saw on Twitter generated quite a discussion about the difference in rolls between the Visionaries and the Princes(ses) of Execution. Tariq Khan and Karin Hermans in particular wrestled with the question can you move (or move someone) from one category to the other?
It’s a great question.
I agree with those two that you can. But it is not easy. And both elements are vital in their respective quantities or the organization will flounder.
Big Takes More of Each
The bigger the organization, the more of both elements that is required.
When you are a one man (or one woman) show, you get to wear both hats. In fact you have to wear both of them or you are sunk.
You have to be able to see what what you want to accomplish clearly enough that it becomes real. And at the same time you have to roll up your sleeves, get to work, and figure out how to make your vision become a reality.
As your organization grows you will need more of both sides of the equation. In theory a larger organization is capable of accomplishing more. (As a side note, the primary reason a smaller company sometimes comes along and whups a big company is because they have more of one of these two factors than the established player has.)
In order to get more accomplished the growing organization will require many more folks involved in executing the day to day tasks that get it where it needs to go. It will also require a bigger vision.
But here’s the interesting thing. That bigger vision can be created by just one person. In fact, too many visionaries in a group can be paralyzing. Especially if they don’t all share the same vision for the organization.
Dreamers vs Cat Herders
The other day a friend of mine asked if I was a dreamer.
I had been thinking about that original quote on Twitter that got this whole thing rolling so I answered, “I’m a reforming dreamer.”
Yes, I am a dreamer. But I want to become an even better Prince of Execution.
It is far too easy for me to get caught up in my own dreams and forget to actually get into action and get my own things done.
The grand irony is that when I am part of an organization, I have no problem executing their vision. But to date I’ve tended to fall short where it comes to turning my own dreams into reality.
So as far as my own life is concerned, it is time for me to step up and get better at getting things done so that some of those dreams become real.
For me, when I’ve been part of an organization, my execution has been a little like cat herding. (I used to say cat juggling - you know, keep all the cats in the air without letting any of the pointy parts get you. But cat herding seems like a little more humane imagery.)
I know there are plenty of folks who are sequential task achievers and accomplish an amazing amount. For me I’ve never had the luxury of focusing on one thing very long. My operations experience has generally been much more like cat herding than assembly line work.
Whether it was strapped to the ejection seat of a jet keeping track of planes, ships and submarines, trying to get all the cargo on a container ship completely discharged and reloaded or working on a diverse group of client projects, I’ve alway seemed to have several things going on simultaneously. Multitasking has been a huge part of my professional life.
I started this post with a question. I’ll leave it to y’all to answer.
Can you move (or move someone) from one category to the other?
And I’ll leave you with one of my all time favorite Superbowl commercials. It just so happens to be about cat herding. 
Enjoy!
Tags: Misc, Motivation, cat herding, commercials, Leadership, Princes of Execution, SuccessCREEations, Visionaries
[...] at SuccessCreeations.com Chris Cree is talking about Visionaries and Executioners (er, Princes of Execution). He asks, Can you move (or move someone) from one category to the [...]
Hi Chris (wow you’ve got my name right ;-))
So, you’re either a woman, they are famous for multitasking, or you’re a bit worried that because you’re a multitasker you can’t be moved on to visionair?
You call it: becoming a better Prince of Executing, IMO with that you mean being able to execute (multitasking or one thing at a time) and having the vision of where the company (your company, or even you) wants to go, has to go next.
Moving one who is only an executer (side-note, I find that hard to believe, but that’s just me) to a more visionair executer I think needs a stimulator, like Tarqis mentioned: mentor, friend, manager, plus a company’s mentality based on visionair-execution.
How’s that for starters?
Hi again
Just read Mark’s ‘answer’. He really ‘gets’ the other side of the coin!
Makes me understand better. (Are known to only see things from own perspective)
Karin, the Navy taught me that there is no such thing as true multitasking. We were trained to just do a little snippet of one task, move on to the next, do a little snippet of that one, and so on around the tasks that needed attention. The net effect was multitasking but we were still just doing one thing at any given time.
Then I got married and discovered a class of people who can genuinely do more than one thing at a time. They are called women.
My wife is a pro!
Chris,
Thanks for the mention! Good post, and I truly enjoy the commercial.
I multitask, but only because it sounds better than “I have ADD”.
The truth is that true visionaries, on their own, are mostly good college professors because they can show off their intelligence, dream about the way things could be, and not harm anyone in the process.
Something I learned from the marketing world is that visionaries are a dime a dozen. There are a lot of great ideas bottled up in peoples’ heads. It is the Prince(ss) of Execution (POE) that is the true rare and valuable commodity.
Before I get beaten up, let me give an example: inventors, inventors with inventions, and inventors with inventions being produced.
There are an uncountable number of “inventors” - people with a great idea to make something new or improve something old.
There are significantly fewer inventors with inventions, since they actually had to do something to make the invention. There are still a whole lot of these, however (just google “inventor conference”).
There are very, very few inventors with inventions in production because they have to not only act on the idea, but push through the mass of humanity to make something happen with the idea.
Is it possible to move from Visionary to POE? I’m sure it is, but it is very, very difficult.
Dan
Hi all
Daniel, great explanation, and not just for inventors, we do need both types (three types, lets not forget dreamers)
Chris, on multitasking: boing boing post on scientific paper doesn’t agree!
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/26/nyt_on_multitasking_.html
Oh dear, they are treading on half the populations toes now!
Tariq, Glad I could help put a smile on your face.
That’s a very interesting point, Daniel. I never thought of it that way. It seems like all the guru’s out there constantly bead the vision drum when talking about leadership.
Because of that I get the feeling that most folks tend to value the visionaries higher than the executors. (Does that work better than executioners?)
Karin, I suspect that most folks who are reading email while driving down the road haven’t been trained how to do that effectively and safely.
I mean driving down the highway at 70mph while checking email can’t be any harder than talking on the radio, running a radar, keeping the navigation straight, coordinating an aircrew, maximizing weapons system effectiveness, knowing where the other planes in the area are, staying outside of enemy weapons envelopes, in a constantly changing g-force environment at 350+ knots. Military aviators do that sort of thing successfully all day long.
Yet how many accidents happen because someone was talking on the cell phone or adjusting the stereo while driving?
I really think it comes down to training. Aviators spend a couple years learning how to do all that. Drivers just have to pass a simple test, no training required.
OK they’re treading on the toes of aviators too, then
Not sure about training though. Yes, it has a big influence, but don’t think you can teach scatter-brains to handle two simple tasks at the same time.
But lets not regress from the original thought: can someone who’s ’strength’ is execution develop his/her strength of thinking - visionair?
I think so, when there is enough encouragement involved and allowness for stumbles. Works both ways also.
Karin, Ignorance is bliss. The results of that study makes we wonder about the quality of workers at Microsoft!
You make a good point about who is being trained. Can’t speak for the other branches, but the US Navy was definitely looking for a specific type of person for their aviation programs. Those who didn’t fit their required profile didn’t make it through their training.
And I’m one of those split personality folks who can be very ADD at times and then at other times be laser focused. Still working on how to turn all that into an asset!
Chris,
Great post, and a really thought-provoking comment discussion! People can definitely move between visionary and POE; as you point out, everyone has to do it (we all have to eat; acquiring and preparing and disposing of the food takes very little visionary work for most of us).
I myself am in the horrible multitasker category, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get things done. I just have to chunk big things into manageable time slices when multiple items need my attention. As for turning the ADD/laser capacity into an asset, it’s knowing when both are appropriate. Usually when I am trying to acquire information or synthesize it, the short-attention-span-look-under-every-rock approach works well. When it’s time to turn that information into an action plan, then a larger, uninterrupted block of effort is appropriate. The self-awareness to know what mix I need for today is the part I’m still working on!
Mike
Heya Mark! Bringing the task down to manageable time chunks is a great way to accomplish more things.
One of the things I find is that it sometimes takes a little discipline to stay on task in the internet environment. It is so easy to click a link and get side tracked. But if we are going to accomplish what we set out to do, it often means leaving other interesting things undone.
Roger that, but who is Mark?
I’m Mark! Hi, Mike. I agree with Daniel Sweet about “dreamers” being a dime a dozen–but I’d say he’s describing people who call themselves dreamers.
Chris, you can call himself a dreamer all you want, but the fact of that matter is more complicated. You are here at Successcreeations knocking it out of the ballpark on a regular basis. You get the job done. It may not be producing the kind of cashflow you want yet, but it is a lot more than just “dreaming.”
Daniel’s comment also reminds me of something I used to get from my high school students a lot. They liked to claim to have great big ideas to change the world. Some of them did, but until they could explain their ideas I wouldn’t concede to their closet brilliance.
Vygotsky applied these ideas to create his theory of language. Saying something in language crystallizes it and makes a fully formed thought. If you can’t communicate your idea to someone else, it might as well not exist.
Business often uses the language of strategy and metrics and goals, even products and services. Mapping out a strategy and measuring specific metrics are the way we clarify our dreams. Producing something clarifies a dream. Serving people in a specific way clarifies a dream.
Otherwise, our dreams fade away as quickly as the random thoughts I had this morning. Seriously, I had this great vision for how to make money on a blog. What was the idea again… ?
Mike, I’d like to claim that I was really addressing Mark. Or to say that’s what I get for trying to sneak a comment onto my blog during my lunch break while my bosses boss is visiting our office unexpectedly and sitting at the next desk.
But the truth is I seem to be suffering from a serious case of name vertigo the past few days. [breathes deeply into a small brown paper bag]
OK. I think I’m better now. And my sincerest apologies to yet another kind contributer here whose name I’ve mangled.
You know, M-a-r-k (I had to do that slowly to be sure I got it right) I especially like that one sentence you wrote.
Wanna go ride bikes?
I like FRACAT. Thanks for the link. Dude, are you implying that I’m ADD? I resemble that remark!
[...] Cree discussed Visionary Cat Herding (which inspired Why Writers Must [...]
[...] Visionary Cat Herding Princes of Execution [...]
Damn you’re good! Hands down, this has to be my favourite headline of the week… impossible not to read the post!
Jen, Today’s been an exhausting day of cat herding and I’m heading back out onto the open range as soon as I type this.
Just wanted to say thanks so much for your compliment. You made my day.
The comment I wrote in response to your question has been lost in cyberspace. And i can’t for the life of me begin to recant it.
Chris, this was a great read. I came here via Mark Goodyear’s blog. You both have put words to things I feel when moving between the two stages.
Nice to see you again Chris. Cat herding? Who would have thunk it. Meow
Jessica, I hate that cyberspace thief of great comments. Sorry we missed out on what you said. (I did check Akismet just to be sure, but found nothing from you there.)
Funny thing about cats is they don’t push well when you try to herd them. At least ours don’t. I have a much more successful time when I try pulling them with a bribe of food or some such.
Chris,
Excellent post. I enjoyed reading it. For some reason I couldn’t play the commercial but thanks for the great reading
Heya Cin77, You might have an issue with flash player not working in your browser? Can you watch other YouTube videos?
I just watched it again. It’s one of those that makes me laugh every time!