What Kind of Thinker Are You? (part 3 of 4)

Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You. Psalms 143:8 The result of trying to function in a role for which you aren’t mentally wired is going to be distress and dysfunction. Each one of us is born with a built in thinking wavelength, a way of organizing the world, tolerating change, and juggling variables. We must recognize that we may have a thinking wavelength that may or may not be the same as the person we married, our supervisor, those we manage, or others we regularly interact with. The thinking wavelength is directly related to the work you are going to do successfully. The continuum, is from left (administrative/operational) to right (development/strategic), the categories are grinders, minders, keepers, finders, and theorists. Today we will explore the work of the “Finders” and “Theorists”… Finders open up new territory, close important new accounts, reclaim lost accounts, and/or transfer new applications into a territory. They are entrepreneurs. Finders are abstract thinkers, so they often don’t complete the paperwork that most concrete thinkers require. They can appear to be loose cannons within a group structure. They are innovators and creators. Follow-through is not their strength. They need grinders, minders, and keepers (see prior blog) to follow in the wake of their creativity. Finders have these characteristics: they sense and seize opportunities, spot voids and fill them, are bored by the steady state, are good site locators, love a new challenge, must be thrown “raw meat” regularly. Sample positions best occupied by finders include CEO, chief visionary, product or market manager, joint venture leader, founding pastor, advanced development engineer, and entrepreneur. Theorists are bright, articulate, and persuasive. But in working with them, don’t expect things to come to closure. Theorists can lead a company down a primrose path. They have a role best suited for universities, seminars, and pure research laboratories. They don’t belong in business. They cannot manage others well, and their ideas rarely become commercialized. Translation is not their thing. There is a world in which the idea is the whole of it. In the proper environment, however, they can make highly significant contributions. Theorists have the following traits: they embrace risk, draw/sketch/diagram, can make quantum leaps, welcome change, are strategic, produce seminal concepts, enjoy many variables, are opportunity oriented, have a high tolerance for ambiguity, postulate the new, don’t execute, and love the 40,000 foot macro-view. Sample positions best occupied by theorists include scientists, researchers, and professors dealing with theoretically-oriented topics. Your thinking wavelength defines the type of roles that will make you most fulfilled, least stressed, and most successful. What is your thinking wavelength? Truth@Life can help you, regardless of your location. Call 248-396-6255 or email me at curtis.songer@gmail.com for a free consultation. If you receive value from these blogs, please consider donating to keep this blog site up and running. This ministry cannot continue without the generous donations of its readers. Just click on the "Donate" button in the upper right. For more info on help I can provide check out http://truthatlife.com/ or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com