In his audio-book ‘Die Empty’ (2013), Todd Henry talks about 3 types of work and 4 types of people.
I find his concept useful as a Seek Simple tool.
According to Todd Henry:
- Mapping includes work such as strategic planning
- Making includes the work of delivering products and services, creating value
- Meshing includes self-development work and work Waterloo Intuition defines as borrowing brilliance [putting curiosity to work]
and Todd sees 4 ‘productivity profiles’…
- Developers are people who engage in all three types of work
- Drivers are people who do Mapping and Making work but no Meshing work
- Drifters are people who do Making and Meshing but no Mapping work
- Dreamers are people who do Mapping and Meshing work but no Making work
Here’s a Waterloo Intuition conclusion, based on meeting and observing hundreds of local business leaders: many business leaders struggle with Meshing work.
Coupled with this, many business leaders fail to understand the importance of Meshing work so not only do they not do it themselves but they also fail to inspire their followers to do it. As a result, many business people fail to grow to the point where they are able to put their talents to full use. Also, without the benefit of Meshing work many business people struggle with handling change let alone leading change. These people-process shortfalls explain why many businesses cannot keep up with their competition.
…and that’s an argument in favour of life-long learning.