Thinkers vs. Leaders vs. Strategists
A thinker is one who introspects, reviews, and contemplates the follies and successes of their own experiences.
A leader is one who takes charge and makes decisions with the information made available to him at the present moment. A strategist evaluates present circumstances and extrapolates the effectiveness of their ideas into the future.
In short thinkers have a tendency to reflect on the past, leaders take decisive action in the present, while strategists weigh the impact of an action or idea along a path of consequences towards their logical conclusion.
In an organization, I think it’s important to have leaders and strategists over thinkers. As good strategists often review their own thinking, just as the thinker does. The difference between the thinking of a strategist though, is that they apply their knowledge. While thinkers tend to live in a land of artificiality; i.e theory, and possibilities.
The best leaders tend to combine all of these attributes, culminating them into a man of wisdom.
What’s odd about wise men of the past and present, is their unwillingness to lead. They have a tendency to gravitate towards hermitage. An attitude of withdrawal rather than aggrandizement and opportunism. I think this is because in truth, wise men are the natural enemies of the powerful. They can create a following just by sitting in a room silently, while the most boastful among us must talk endlessly about themselves to gain attention. A roaring sea of clapping tongues that they often confuse for legitimacy.
When I was in the military, one of the best leaders I ever had was a commander by the name of Lieutenant C. Brooks. With his salt and pepper hair, he’d travel around the squadron every once in a while meeting and greeting the airman around his squadron. Unlike many of the commanders I’d met, he was actually personable. Which was strange because most held an air of inadvertent distance. An air of which separated them from their subordinates not so much due to their rank, but more their personality. This feeling was typically heightened when flanked by high ranking sergeants. Men and women of whom stared daggers into the skipping hearts of the lower ranked soldiers in their midst.
Ironically, such moments taught me quite a bit about power. That distance created an aura of otherworldliness. An image of awe and superficial superiority about those who wore ranks beyond our own. Nevertheless, Lieutenant C. Brooks often took it upon himself to escape the clutches of his entourage, and speak to the troops when other such leadership wasn’t around. These stealthy visits allowed him to create more of a bond with his subordinates, which allowed us to actually speak freely about the real problems within the squadron. Instead of toeing the line and spoon feeding him the “appropriate” answers laid out for us by our immediate superiors.
There really is something to be said about leadership in that, “it’s not what you say that matters, but how you say it.” I personally find this to be very true, and it’s mostly because I cannot for the life of me remember any single thing that Lieutenant C. Brooks said to me directly. However, I can easily recall how I felt while in his presence. When he walked into the room, I felt relief. While with many other leaders, I felt a sort of silent tension in the air. A choking, suffocating feeling of which threatened to suck in the very windows that kept out the dreary cold of winter.
In such moments, I wondered why certain types of people created these atmospheres of contention, while others brought forth a gentle breeze of calm into the room. I still haven’t the faintest idea, outside the fact that experience tends to mold and alter ones personality over time. Perhaps this is the reason why.
Hello! We’re D.J. Hoskins
We are Davena and Jason Hoskins, co-authors of 30+ books and siblings who write under the pseudonym D.J. Hoskins. Three years apart and in our twenties, we have been fascinated by stories from a young age. Davena is a student attending Princeton University, and Jason attends Georgetown University.
