The Synergist

Les McKeown started more than 40 companies and observed different phases through which start ups pass  (explained in his book Predictable Success). Furthermore he observed four types of managers and describes this in his other book The Synergist:
MacKEOWN building teams for success

 

  • the visionary: the one having the business idea and starting the company
  • the operator: the one picking the ball from the visionary and getting things done
  • the processor: the one holding things together once the operation grows
  • the synergist: knitting the three other personalities together and putting grease into the gearbox.

In Les MacKeown’s words:

  • The Visionary with big ideas and little interest in execution.
  • The Processor who insists on putting every detail through a system, slowing things down.
  • The Operator who just wants to end the meeting and get back to the “real work.”

These three characters - ’Visionary’, ‘Processor’, and ‘Operator’ (VOP) - sit at every business meeting, each battling for their competing agendas and together blocking the way to real progress. The cost to organizations in lost productivity is exorbitant”.

Many companies struggle from fights within the management team - essentially missing a synergist.
The good thing is: while you cannot learn to become a visionary or operator or processor - you can learn to be a synergist!

Does what you read ring a bell?
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