“Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.” – Pamela Vaull Starr
The Thinker is The Dreamer's most important companion.
The Dreamer represents the "what" and The Thinker represents the
methodical "how." He compliments The Dreamer by knowing the special
role he plays in the manifestation of The Dreamer's vision. He is the one who
asks the questions essential to formulate the business plan.
After the exciting dream, it is time to sober up and
formulate plans geared towards attaining your dream. For Otieno’s business, he
needed to formulate plans that would gravitate towards the success on a single
workshop for a start. How about the growth plan for the conglomerate of
workshops spread across key towns in Kenya and later Africa?
How about formulating a 5year business plan that
stipulates at a strategic level how he intends to run the business? Those
strategy figures that we are afraid to document…. How comfortable are we with
turnovers, residual incomes and ROIs of this world? Isn’t is easier to operate
a business on auto-pilot mode? That business plan should capture your dream at
a higher level. You must then come up with yearly operating plans that are a
derivative of the strategy figures.
But how did u expect Otieno to draw a business plan
and outline the expected ROIs when he never went past high school. The only
accounting knowledge he has was the one acquired in primary school…remember
Business education subject? How then would he navigate the world of figures?
Maybe he needed help. May be this is the help I ought to have given him….May be
I ought to have picked him under my wings and assist him nurture his
dream..Somebody asked me whether I missed an opportunity here….maybe I did,
maybe I did not. In this world full of opportunities, it serves you well to
pick your opportunities well.
How many of us know this story. This man who presented
a charcoal buying and selling business proposal to his buddy who happened to be
an accountant. Of course the accountant dismissed the idea. The man went home
disappointed but soldiered on with that business and later grew an empire only
to employ the accountant later…well well…..believe in your dream.
The thinker element in the entrepreneur sometimes can
actually kill a dream. It is the element that does analysis. For the clever and
educated fellows (like the accountant above), too much analysis leads to
something they call analysis paralysis…..followed by doubts…followed by
confusion..inaction…non-belief..then death of a dream… That fellow who never
went past primary education simply does basic maths: income, expenditure,
profit and bang..he is in business.
Lesson: Let the thinker element support the dream. Let
him ask questions around the dream and find solutions. Let him analyse the
risks of the business and get the mitigating strategies….Simply let him do his
job and assist actualize the dream.
My father used to give me words of wisdom, he once told
me that a man was requested to climb a tree and cut some branches for a small
pay. He got so excited coz of the small pay till he forgot to remove his shoes
which made him slip and break his leg. The other one was requested to cut a
banana stem and he went for an axe as opposed to a panga. With one heavy cut of
an axe, he not only cut the stem but also part of his leg. Both shared a
characteristic of foolishness because neither took time to think through the
task to be done and prepare themselves adequately. Look before you leap.
Next lesson, we shall talk about the
storyteller….him who conveys the dream with clarity and precision…the singer of
your song.