smockpeeve number 7: "idea" people

Oooh, another pet peeve we share.

I had a friend (and yes, she's a good friend still) who said once, "I'm the creative one. Terry's the one who gets things done."

That stung, as I see myself as fairly creative.

But the part that chapped me most was this: Creativity is worth ZIP unless you can put it on the page, execute it, paint it, write it or whatever. Until then, it's simply a figment of your imagination.

Yike, I'm crabby this morning!

Ouch. Anyone who knows me can tell you that ideas bubble up out of me like carbonation out of a shaken bottle of Vernors. And, yep, the other half of the equation is also true of me -- I'm short on execution.

That's why it's a good thing for me that the world isn't reserved for solo practitioners. It takes a disproportionate amount of energy for me to execute and implement, sure. But in a collaboration with a bunch of linear thinkers, I can be the straw that stirs the drink. A team of one idea person and 4 strong implementers can do the work of 8 and end up with the success of 12. IMHO, of course.

i, too, am an "idea" person, so i'm not really knocking people with incredible vision (not that i'm actually in that group), just the people who are really impotent and/or lazy about follow through... hence the "idea" of "idea" people in quotes. laziness and impotence. that is what really chaps my hide.

Idea people drive me crazy, as the function of everyone else out there is to take direction from me, so that my ideas, which are better, get properly executed. If God had wanted everyone out there to have ideas and to go off half-cocked to execute them, he wouldn't have put me on the planet.

Believe!
Obey!
Fight!