Even the best superheroes have partners. Wearing a cape means that it takes someone particularly understanding to enter into a relationship that is likely to be fraught with peril.
These pairings often come and go, but when two superheroes can make it work, legendary relationships can be forged and become important aspects of superhero history.
The ultimate dynamic duo in business is the pairing of Visionary and Integrator™ – two vital roles at the top of most entrepreneurial companies. Every pilot needs a co-pilot; every composer, a conductor; and every true Visionary needs to be counterbalanced with a great Integrator if he or she wants his or her vision to be fully realized.
There are many world-famous corporate duos such as Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger, and Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Many large companies may not exist today if they hadn’t had a Visionary / Integrator dynamic duo in their early years. Countless others had the same stories when they were small and growing companies, and thanks to a strong work ethic and complementary skill sets, these famous business partnerships have yielded incredible results.
In their book Rocket Fuel, Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters tell how Visionaries and Integrators can work to find each other, work together, and maximize their relationship, vision, and company.
A Visionary is defined as the person who had the original great idea, conceived the company, continues to look to expand the business, and pushes ideas forward. He or she tends to be the founding entrepreneur, is a great leader with lots of big ideas, is a relationship and salesperson, and is a creative problem solver. Unfortunately, he or she also can create chaos, has limited patience for details, gets distracted by shiny stuff, and wants to implement every single one of his or her ideas immediately.
An Integrator is the person who thrives on putting systems and processes in place to bring order to the chaos. He or she is a great taskmaster and manager, is good at holding people accountable, creating consistency, and integrating the leadership team.
According to Rocket Fuel research, only 1 out of 20 Visionaries (5%) possesses both skill sets of the Visionary and the Integrator. These people are a very rare breed. Furthermore, in small- to medium-sized businesses there is around a 4 to 1 ratio of Visionaries to Integrators, so a good Integrator is hard to find. The more contrasting the Visionary’s and the Integrator’s skill sets are, the bigger the impact on the organization. With the Visionary and the Integrator joining forces in their superhero roles to work well together, your leadership team will have a new level of impact on your company, your employees, your customers, your clients and, ultimately, the world.
This post originally appeared on the Grow Or Die Blog on April 19, 2018.