More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Gino Wickman
Read between
October 14 - October 16, 2018
At the top of every company is a leader who focuses outside—the Visionary—and one who manages inside—the Integrator.
The Integrator is a realist. Integrators ensure commitments are kept, deadlines are met, and resources are managed. Integrators align resources to make the Visionary’s dream a reality.
It is important to note that the companies we typically work with generate revenues of $2–$50 million and range in size from 10 to 250 people. While this discovery also works with companies both larger and smaller than that range, this is our target market where these principles have been mainly validated.
define what the person at the helm of an organization does with all of its major functions.
And to quote Danielle Kennedy, a Hall of Fame speaker with the National Speakers Association, “We teach what we needed the most.” This passion has continued to grow.
Before we begin, it is important to understand that this discovery has at its core a philosophical belief.
human beings have a God-given set of capabilities—what Dan Sullivan would call “Unique Ability®*.” Or in other words, a true skill-set or genetic
We invite you on this journey to discover which one you are—and free yourself to embrace it. That is our ultimate message. Figure out which one you are, assume that role, and excel!
What we are about to share is a science. It’s real. It’s powerful. When harnessed, it is very effective. It may be your way to finally break through the ceiling that’s been hanging over you for so long.
If you are a Visionary, you are one of only 3% of the population that create two-thirds of the new jobs in our economy. (This figure comes from John F. Dini, in his book Hunting in a Farmers World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur.)
A good rule of thumb is that if you match up on 80% of the traits outlined in this section, you are a Visionary.
Rob says, “I certainly have had to filter a lot
of Joel’s ideas, but none of these things would have happened if Joel were not here.”
You’re great at devising solutions to big problems, not the li...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
things work. “Innovators [Visionaries] find, in their lives and work, something disharmonious that common sense overlooks or denies.”
As a result, Sachse Construction grew 200% during and coming out of the great recession.
Your type of hunting is for ideas, deals, opportunities, and solutions to big problems.
He says, “Entrepreneurs [Visionaries] hunt. They don’t manage. They explore rather than analyze. They build companies with vision, creativity, and tenacity; not with policies and procedures.” If most or all of what you just read describes you, you are a Visionary. Know thyself and be free!
Well, like most things in nature—with special gifts come special challenges.
Another Visionary, when asked what their biggest challenges are, simply said: “Too many ideas.” And another said, “I’m always trying to get 100 pounds of sh*t into a 50-pound bag.”
interesting theory about Visionaries: part of their M.O. could be considered a form of mania.
It lies in our genes because of our forebears who had the will, optimism, and daring to leave their countries for the “promised land.”
You jump from topic to topic, without a segue, making it hard for people to follow you. You think they surely have caught your point, while they may not feel comfortable stopping you to clarify—which they may well need to do a lot.
As a Visionary, you have a crystal-clear picture in your mind of what you want. It’s in vivid color. When you explain it, you hear the sweet sound of music. Unfortunately, much of the time it comes across to others listening as simply “thump, thump, thump.” This comes from under-communicating your vision.
130 different profit centers—ranging from insurance to exotic metals.
Was he a success for achieving such heights? Or a failure for not building a great company to last after his departure?
Five Frustrations:
“Vision without execution is just hallucination.” In other words, you need someone to help you execute your vision. The idea isn’t enough: it must be implemented to have value. It’s your choice.
Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your calling, vocation, or purpose—paraphrasing the ideas of Aristotle in Politics.
Integrators create organizational lucidity, enabling the right hand to know what the left hand is doing—keeping everyone in sync.
A good Integrator is able to poke holes in ideas, opportunities, and potential solutions. As a result, you can come off as being a pessimist or negative.
“One of my biggest challenges is moving at the speed of vision. Typically a vision can be seen long before you get there.
Being considered negative by others, as the “hole poker”
Constant friction and tension
Having to do the dirty work (firing
Being accused of moving too slowly
Clarifying the Integrator role was a big step toward streamlining accountability
The ancient Chinese concept of Yin and Yang describes how two forces that are seemingly contrary to each other—polar opposites—are actually interconnected and interdependent, giving rise to each other as they interact together.
A rope with two twisted strands is much stronger than simply twice the strength of a single strand.
“WHY-types are the Visionaries, the ones with the overactive imaginations.
HOW-types live more in the here and now.
WHY-types are focused on the things most people can’t see,
HOW-types are focused on the things that most people can see, and tend to be better at building structures and pr...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Henry Ford, as most of the world knows, was a true Visionary innovator who democratized the automobile, being fanatical about steadily lowering the cost of vehicles to make them affordable for everyone.
This led to every dealership having service departments.
Snow’s book further describes how Couzens strictly enforced the rule that every dealer have $20,000 worth of spare parts on hand, upholding the company’s willingness to repair any Ford car no matter where it had been purchased.
Couzens, not Ford, instigated the raising of workers’ pay to an unprecedented minimum of $5.00 a day, twice that of the industry average at the time.
That generosity toward their labor force had a huge impact on the company’s success in the early days.
That idea is echoed in another observation, “Couzens . . . understood everything about the car business except how a car worked.”
The Visionary and Integrator are our two-piece puzzle, and the shape of their connecting edge is determined by their complementary degree of certain shared traits.
