"Everything starts with an idea. This is the first of the four jobs – the Thinkers. Builders convert these ideas into reality. This the second job. Improvers make this reality better. This is the third job. Producers do the work over and over again, delivering quality goods and services to the company’s customers in a repeatable manner. This is the fourth job. And then the process begins again with new ideas and new ways of doing business being developed as the old ones become stale."
As a company grows and reaches maturity, more of the work gets done by the Producers and Improvers. However, without a culture of consistent improvement, the Producers soon take over and implementing change becomes slower and slower until it stops. Long before this the Thinkers and Builders have left for some new venture. Improvers soon follow to join their former co-workers and hire new Producers to add some order to the newly created chaos. The old Producers who aren’t continually evolving, learning new skills and processes, are left behind to fend for themselves. Maintaining balance across all four work types is a constant, but a necessary struggle for a company to continue to grow, adapt, and survive...every person is comprised of a mix of each work type, with one or two dominant."
Source: Lou Adler
I am an Improver first and Thinker second in my place of employment; yet I am a Thinker first and all the other "jobs" second in my personal creative endeavors. Now, it makes total sense that my place of work is closing - "without a culture of consistent improvement, the Producers soon take over and implementing change becomes slower and slower until it stops" - without change there is nothing new to improve.
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