Overzealous Optimism and Gray Hairs
- Eric Thorsen
- Jul 10, 2024
- 2 min read
I remember listening to this interview with Steve Jobs years ago. He was talking about the early days of Apple, about how he and Steve (Wozniak) were “too young to realize that what they were trying to do was impossible”.
He (they) had this Overzealous Optimism without really the experience of lots of failure or even limitations that often only comes with age.
Obviously this served them in this tremendously positive way.
Unchecked this can be risky though and they likely had people helping them with execution and working to make their vision a reality.
The combination of optimism with experience in problem solving can be a powerful combination.
So, how do you marry these two things?
One of the things I really like about the Entrepreneurs Operating System (EOS) is they have these two roles defined:
One is called a Visionary.
The other is the Integrator.
The Visionary is the dreamer and innovator, focusing on future growth and opportunities, while the Integrator is the executor and manager, focusing on implementing the Visionary’s ideas and running the daily operations.
This combination helps balance creativity with practical execution. It lets the Overzealous Optimism of a Visionary be driven with practical grounded execution.
This has been game changing in my own organization. Finding the right Integrator for me (the Visionary) completely changed the way I was able to focus on growth and overtime, and changed the way the entire organization ran.
My Integrator (who is phenomenal), focused on management and execution…which was great. Where things got even more interesting was when we focused on people(roles and delegation), process and structure. The company really started to accelerate my ability to work on my business instead of in it.
You don’t have to use EOS to have this in your organization…but there likely are people who are in these roles.
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