Leaders, Movers and Shakers

There are managers who are great in execution, but lack vision and strategic thinking. There are managers who are great in vision and strategic thinking, but are unable to carry through to completion. Then there are managers who are leaders. They combine vision and execution.

Consider vision and execution as the two dimensions of leadership. Leaders score high in both vision and execution. They have clarity of vision, think out of the box, see what exists only as a possibility to be realized in the future. They are able to work out strategies to convert the possibility into reality. They also have the discipline to work out detailed plans, delegate responsibilities, ensure resources, review progress and follow through to completion.

What about people who are effective in executing plans, even if it calls for moving the mountains? Yes, they are the movers of the world. They make things happen, and that too pretty quickly and on budget. They are the traditionally efficient managers.

You would also remember someone who deeply influenced you by a very articulate presentation of a vision for the future. He or she could be a manager, a teacher, a politician or from any other profession. Yes, that person literally shook you up. Such people are the shakers of status quo.

For the sake of completion, let me also refer to another type, who neither move nor shake. They may be called laggers. The word may not be in the dictionary. But you know it means someone who lags behind. (Laggers may not be laggards, and so I am using a different word.)


Footnote: The term 'movers and shakers' appears in the following poem by Arthur O'Shaughnessy. The poem is titled 'Ode'

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.


You may like to read the entire poem. It is on http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ode_(O'Shaughnessy)