ril's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Idea Guy The Idea Guy� To the extent that I�ve had any professional success, it is because I am �the idea guy.� The positions I held earlier in my career centered around retaining and recalling the functions, limitations, and operational parameters of literally thousands of control circuits and their associated indications. Whenever things became (more than usually) chaotic, I seemed to be unnaturally able to discern the key indication/s which would lead us to take the correct actions� I can�t explain it, the one or two things I needed to see just always seemed to jump out at me� When I shifted career paths, and decided to tackle law school, I was the guy who could pick out the one key element or critical fact that would win (or lose) the argument. Again, it just sort of made sense to me� no real reason or explanation� it just did. And, having started at the �X� on the treasure map, it seemed sort of trivial to trace the steps I needed to take to get from here to there (because in my mind I was really going from there to here). The thing is, it turns out that the ability to do these kinds of things are highly valued in the business world� insight� intellect� analytical ability� an �idea� guy� Whatever� I don�t care too much about the label� the concept is what is important here, because (for those of you that have been paying attention), it is another indication that I am, in reality, no more than a Shaman� a purveyor of fakery� � and living proof that it is always better to be lucky than good. Those that know me best at work (mostly my direct reports) suspect that I am not quite as on the ball as my reputation might suggest (which is, of course, completely true). But I certainly can�t let them know that� (once the lions smell fear, you�re pretty much toast). How does one survive in a group of highly motivated, exceptionally intelligent sharks? By being the biggest, baddest shark in the water, of course. Or, in my case, by making them believe that I am the biggest, baddest shark in the water. And, not surprisingly, every now and then they make me prove that I�m paying attention�. Like most people who think of themselves as analytical �thinkers,� but who are really emotional �feelers,� my Achilles heel is almost always found in the details� once I�ve had my flash of Divine inspiration about a problem, I generally lose interest in it� but, unfortunately for me, I�m not yet high enough up the corporate food chain to get away with that on a regular basis� it is my job to ensure that problems within my (very small) circle of influence are resolved� and so (unlike that very funny television commercial) I have to actually implement the solutions I propose� and, to me, this is an area ripe with opportunities for failure� I suppose the good news is that I�ve learned to overcome my aversion to details, by forcing myself to slow down� to take all of the time I need to let my mind wander� but to never get ahead of my actual progress� the result in physical terms is that I very often take longer than everyone else to do much of the day-to-day admin crap that I so despise, but I also generally make fewer mistakes� as one of my supervisors once noted, I never tell him I�ve finished editing anything until I�ve edited it four times (which is, in fact, my thumb rule)� but when I told him it was done, he never had to read it to know that it was right� � which is how someone who couldn�t otherwise find his butt with two hands and a flashlight (that would be me) gets promoted� which I did today� - 2002-03-13 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||
|
||||||