Response to Conceptualizers and Operationalizers
Last week I talked about Greenleaf's idea of operating talent and conceptual talent in this post. Don Frick had a great comment, which I wanted to make sure our subscribers (who don't always make it to the site) had a chance to read. Here is what Don had to say about this idea:
Greenleaf's description of "conceptualizers" and "operationalizers" have resonance in research about left brain-right brain dominance, Meyers-Briggs personality traits and other data that didn't exist when he first wrote this. In researching Greenleaf's biography, it became clear to me that Bob saw himself as a conceptualizer, which made him quite different from most of the AT&T presidents he worked under during his last years at that behemouth institution. He also observed that most, but not all, of the best leaders at the various Ma Bells (there were over 200 of them) were conceptualizers.
If a leader wasn't gifted as a conceptualizer, Bob believed that he or she should at least promote people with conceptual talents to the inner circle and listen to them. But that didn't happen often enough; he observed that conceptualizers KNEW they needed operationalizers, but the opposite was not always true.
No one of us can be gifted in all areas, but Greenleaf proved that it was not an either-or choice. In left brain-right brain terms, he was whole brained. He was a gifted conceptualizer who could still buckle down and perform operational tasks with distinction, even if it wasn't as much fun for him. Because I'm a diehard conceptualizer, his whole-brained model - one that he didn't just write about but lived - gives me real hope.
Greenleaf's description of "conceptualizers" and "operationalizers" have resonance in research about left brain-right brain dominance, Meyers-Briggs personality traits and other data that didn't exist when he first wrote this. In researching Greenleaf's biography, it became clear to me that Bob saw himself as a conceptualizer, which made him quite different from most of the AT&T presidents he worked under during his last years at that behemouth institution. He also observed that most, but not all, of the best leaders at the various Ma Bells (there were over 200 of them) were conceptualizers.
If a leader wasn't gifted as a conceptualizer, Bob believed that he or she should at least promote people with conceptual talents to the inner circle and listen to them. But that didn't happen often enough; he observed that conceptualizers KNEW they needed operationalizers, but the opposite was not always true.
No one of us can be gifted in all areas, but Greenleaf proved that it was not an either-or choice. In left brain-right brain terms, he was whole brained. He was a gifted conceptualizer who could still buckle down and perform operational tasks with distinction, even if it wasn't as much fun for him. Because I'm a diehard conceptualizer, his whole-brained model - one that he didn't just write about but lived - gives me real hope.
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