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Happy holidays, everyone! We hope they’ve been great so far and continue to be joyous into the new year.
When 2010 arrives, it’s likely you’ll have some decisions to make: perhaps it’s the direction of your content marketing, selecting a new piece of technology, finding the right marketing agency or trying to hire a writer for your website. Gathering advice from colleagues has always made a lot of sense – and some companies even have their own go-to guy that’s considered a “directional guru” of sorts.
I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of placing a company’s path in the hands of a so-called corporate visionary. I’ve worked in places that adopted the opinion of certain individuals a little too blindly (sometimes because that person was the boss – which makes it tough) and the results were less than spectacular. The lack of mind-blowing success would often get blamed on the execution (in other words: everyone else) rather than looking critically at whether the chief idea ever had any traction to begin with.
While this strip from Dilbert.com takes it to the extreme, this is how I’ve felt about the legitimacy behind some visionaries and the decision-making process that followed:
I should say, it can be fantastic to have a visionary at your company. If they’re legit in their abilities, they can motivate the whole team, get the company on an exciting path and really set your business apart. However, you need to make sure that:
a) … these individuals deserve their reputations. So, they had a GREAT idea back in 2002. What have they done since? What real contributions did they make this year? Make sure you’re not praying to false business idols.
b) … you back big ideas with data. Identify the difference between thoughtful, experienced insight vs. buzz words, gut feelings and enthusiasm
c) … you listen to the ideas, logic and information from various team members and don’t simply take your visionary’s word as the lone source of gospel
d) … if you’re the boss and the visionary that you have a sense of the work you create every time you have a “bright idea.” Starting, stopping, flipping and switching directions isn’t just wasteful of time and money, it strains the patience and sanity of those who are actually carrying out the work
In 2010, we hope your business combines passion with logic, daring with caution and direction with teamwork!
