Back soon! For now, let's revisit why this blog is called 'Conceptual Leader'?
I am taking some time off between late this week and next week, so my next post here should come out on 19th July. In the meantime, and as a way to move toward my holidays, I thought of revisiting (meaning with some editing) my very first post back in October 2022.
Why 'conceptual leader'
The term may sound odd to some. It may look counterintuitive and even in conflict to a lot what I am proud about how I try to face the world, in realistic fashion. Shouldn’t I rather promote pragmatism? I do. And I will. Even here, eventually.
But there are some reasons to choose the name favoring the ‘conceptual’, so the world of ideas. At a mundane level, there is already plenty of good content which properly make use of the term ‘pragmatic’. Two that I recommend, and I am subscribed to the newsletters are:
But it is not necessarily about making some sort of contrast, or be or sound different. It is more about who I am. My thinking does start from higher-level and I enjoy a lot the conceptual and intellectual debate. I read a lot but can’t quite get enough traction on doing so with fiction. Too easily I concentrate on non-fictional reading. In psychological terms, they say that I have high intellect (as in an attraction to the world of ideas) but lower openness (to a creative side as in an attraction to arts).
This is where I can nicely circle back. See, I like concepts, I like to talk about them, debate, to feel intellectually challenged. But I favor non-fiction. Which is a clue to how I like not only to discuss those matters but want to find useful stuff I can put in practice. The ‘conceptual pragmatist’, perhaps, could be an alternative.
‘Leader’ sounds nicer though. It also is broad and related to what I want to focus here.
There is one more thing… Which is a reference to one of my contemporary favorites in business management and leadership related research: the late Clay Christensen.
Who used to point out that past success and even historical data is only good at predicting future for as long as conditions are same or sufficiently similar. And that, to deal with uncertainty, leaders need good ‘theory’ which help us to understand ‘how’ and ‘why’.
I believe in that concept. And would argue that explains why some leaders seem to only succeed in relatively similar contexts, while others seem to much more easily adapt to changes and largely excel wherever they are or whatever they are thrown at… The latter are, in my words, ‘conceptual leaders’. It should go without saying that they did learn the additional trick that is to put in practice and be pragmatic as they execute.
If you've been following me enough here, you may have recognized that the British writer G.K. Chesterton is a recurrent reference to me as well. For instance, I love his short and crispy answer to the question him and other thinkers were given by a newspaper in the early XX century: "what's wrong with the world?":
"I am."
I find that a profound invite for taking responsibility and acting, the latter being the pragmatic part. So, in other words, theory and practice are not in odds with which other; or G.K. Chesterton writes in his book named after the referred question he had received:
"There has arisen in our time a most singular fancy: the fancy that when things go very wrong we need a practical man. It would be far truer to say, that when things go very wrong we need an unpractical man. Certainly, at least, we need a theorist. A practical man means a man accustomed to mere daily practice, to the way things commonly work. When things will not work, you must have the thinker, the man who has some doctrine about why they work at all. It is wrong to fiddle while Rome is burning; but it is quite right to study the theory of hydraulics while Rome is burning."
Ultimately, one can argue that in order to be practical, and effective regardless of the pre-conditions being equal and known, one has to be conceptual. That's why I get inspired by approaches (like from Dave Snowden) that speak about theory-based practice, as a means to increase adaptability to evolving conditions, which often is what we are up against in work and life.
ByRodrigo Sperb, feel free to connect, I'm happy to engage and interact. If I can be of further utility to you or your organization in getting better at working with product development, I am available for part-time advisory, consulting or contract-based engagements.