Akolawole Shoremi
“The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” ― Nolan Bushnell
Hello, fellow doer!
Last week, a video clip was shared by a business associate. In the one-minute advert, the video titled “We are here for Doers” explained the position of a consultancy company, Endgame, to the business world. According to Endgame, the world is being driven by doers, not dreamers. This motivated my discussion for this week. Thus I asked, “Are you one of those driving the world or you are merely a passenger?”
The Cambridge English dictionary defined a doer as someone who gets actively involved in something, rather than just thinking or talking about it. The people of the world are hence classified into two groups of personalities; the dreamers and the doers.
Being a dreamer or a doer is simply about our characters and attitudinal approaches to life. I remembered discussing temperaments; the Sanguine, Melancholy, Choleric and Phlegmatic beings or better integrated as the Introverts and Extroverts. These classes of temperaments project the difference in peoples of the world and our usual response to the happenings around us. In the field of entrepreneurship, we are made to understand the classes of personalities, by Mark Hansen and Robert Allen (Authors of the One Minute Millionaire), via the representation of Hares, Squirrels, Owls, and Turtles. According to these Authors, all classes of these personalities are needed in a team to ensure a business achieves a vital balance. Success, after all, is never attained and sustained when being ran as a one man’s project.
The classification of the peoples of the world into dreamers or doers is an integral act of which part of our brain hemispheres (left or right) is dominant. The left brain versus the right brain theory fundamentally addressed why a left-brained person tends to become a doer while the right-brained resolves to be a dreamer. The analysis is simple and conclusive from the researches made.
It is understandable that being a dreamer or doer has accompanying strengths and weaknesses. Hence, both personalities are worthy of being given relevance if to develop a formidable team. The point, however, is to give more consideration to the doers being prominent as executors.
A dreamer, like a Hare, is an inventor of ideas. The dreamers are creative beings that are never intimidated by risks, due to their usual positive and colourful views about life. This personality they become being non submissive to analysis or comprehensive details. Dreamers are more of the right brain and are known to be full of inspirations on how great events could turn up. An entrepreneur who is a dreamer is obliged to give in to many commitments. They so believe in their capacity of being able to handle a lot only to end up being depressed when little are achieved at the long run. This class of entrepreneur is often found partaking in multiple business endeavours. Today, the dreamer will subscribe interest to the textile industry only to be found in the business of bakery the following day; not sure of what the day after may become. This way of life does not translate the dreamer into one without vision. No. It is only that the urge to be consistent and faithful to a dream is often cut short by weariness. And when confronted by tough challenges, a dreamer is likely to immediately give up on an already running cause.
These known features of a dreamer, however, do not make them less needful upon the hatch of new ideas. In fact, the doers are known to rely on the dreamers to have a sense of purpose and direction before and during the execution of tasks. Most of the great initiatives around the world are obviously products of seamless thoughts cultivated from wild imaginations and undying beliefs in possibilities. The urge that all things are possible is the mantra of the dreamer even though he may lack the patience and analytical strength to truly make enough things possible through perseverance.
The doers, on the other hand, are believed to be the true entrepreneurs according to Bushnell’s school of thought. The reason is also not farfetched; Doers are generally believed to be people of execution. Doers are objective, reliable and focused. The doers are the owls and squirrels according to Hansen and Allen’s One Minute Millionaire. The doers are people who are often emotionally free of perspectives. This class of personalities are strategic beings and go-getters. The doers are obedient to details and high representatives of order and priorities.
Reflecting on the position of the CEO of Endgame, Century Favour, there are so many problems in the world awaiting solutions. And no matter how brilliant an idea may be, such idea never becomes a solution until it is made to go through the process of execution. And the fact that a dreamer may not be able to pull an idea through to reality gives the doers an edge as beings indispensable to the singular or collective cause of overcoming the emerging challenges of the world. This simple reason makes the doers the true entrepreneurs.
It may just be about time that we begin considered adopting the qualities of a doer. What makes one a doer? What differentiates a doer from being a dreamer? The response in summary is that a doer takes action and remains persistent with it. This summary hence becomes the driving force behind the drivers of the world. Do not just dream of good resolutions. Do not just dream of a better tomorrow for it may never come without core actions. Take a step, inch by inch. Be a Thomas Edison; fall a thousand times and continue to rise until you see your dreams through the tunnel. Yes! There is always light at the end of every tunnel. And there at the place of light is where the world is awaiting to announce your success. And of course, it is provided you improve on every failure or success that comes your way.
Kamal Ravikant, a famous Author, once asserted, “If there is one lesson I’ve learned from failure and success, it is this: I am not the outcome. I am never the result. I am only the effort.” And that effort is glaringly what makes you a doer. Do you agree less that it is time to begin do?
We Can. We Will. We Must
Akolawole is a Social Media and Customer Service Executive, a Columnist with Stockswatch newspaper, a Techie, Media geek, and an active Advocate on Entrepreneurship and nation building. He can be reached via akolshoremi@gmail.com and/or +2348085366022 (SMS only).