In the agency world there's an ongoing intellectual battle between the highly intelligent, insightful, black-rimmed-glasses-wearing thinkers [in agency parlance, planners, strategists, creatives] and the grounded, resourceful, nerd-chic doers [in agency parlance, producers].
And then there are those rare hybrids who can think of an idea and then actually do it. I know a few, and they are truly impressive. Those are people I want on my side!
So there you have it, right? Find a thinker/doer hybrid and you're all set to rule the world. Not quite ...
See, I think there's a missing piece in the thinker --> doer continuum discussion. The convincer.
The convincer bridges the gap between the brilliance of thethinker, and the killer resourcefulness of the doer.
They, well, convince. Convince clients to accept our recommendations. Convince new business prospects to partner with us. Convince our own people that what we're doing is right/worthy/cool/groundbreaking/etc. A few qualities that come to mind:
- They are more pragmatic than dogmatic.
- They posses the business acumen to understand, articulate and provide a POV on the client's/prospect's business challenges.
- They demonstrate high emotional intelligence. They can read the room so to speak.
- They don't fall in love with their own ideas [or their agency's ideas].
- They are strong enough to stand up to the thinkers when ideas - no matter how brilliant - are not appropriate for the situation.
- They are sensitive to the considerations articulated by the doers, but aren't afraid to push for more with less.
Two questions: Do you know any really good convincers? And what's missing from my list of qualities above?