Visionaries vs. Operators | Simon Sinek

One of the biggest mistakes founding leaders make is that they assume that everyone in the company is clear on the vision.

Just because it is clear to the founding leaders, it's not necessarily clear to everyone else.

Unfortunately, many visionaries replace themselves with operators. An operator can do a visionary job, however, they have to understand it's a different job with a different skill set.

The difference between a visionary and an operator is that one skill set is up and out and the other down and in.

Many CFOs or COs are considered the number two in the company and in line for the big position. 

However, what makes an organisation highly functional is

1. the partnership between its visionary and operator, and
2. the tension between the two ways of operating up-and-out and down-and-in.

You want a visionary person to do a visionary job, and the operator to do an operator job.

• You should extract the purpose from the founder in terms that are compelling and resonant with everyone.
• Build into your incentive structure performance and values so that the organisation is equipped to survive the founder leader if necessary.