Making Ideas Happen: Dreamers, Doers, and Incrementalists

In Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky, he identifies 3 types of “creatives”: Dreamers, Doers, and Incrementalists.

• Dreamers generate tons of ideas but have a difficult time taking action.
• Doers are great at taking action, but aren’t always full of ideas.
• Incrementalists can switch between Dreaming and Doing, but often they have so many irons in the fire, that they don’t take any single idea to full potential.

Belsky suggests that partnering with someone of a different “creative type” can actually help move ideas forward into reality.

• Dreamer + Doer
• Dreamer + Incrementalist
• Doer + Incrementalist

All are effective combinations. In fact, it’s even suggested that you partner with multiple people of differing types to achieve a more comprehensive set of results.

I’m largely a Dreamer in my personal life. I have a smattering of the other two, but Dreaming is probably the more dominant.

Which one are you? Have you successfully partnered with someone of a different type with a successful outcome? Have you ever found that pairing with someone having similar tendencies left gaps in other areas?