After
watching the video, A tale
of Power and Vision, I began to think about the positive and negative
aspects of each of the agents represented in the video. There are 5 agents in
the video: pessimists, pragmatists, visionaries, power players, and the crowd.
The pessimist agent can be described as a person who believes that goals and/or
visions cannot be reached. This person stresses over the negative aspects of
life or how things will go wrong. The negative trait of this agent is his/her
negative attitude in the workplace. But, the positive aspect of this agent is
how he/she may provide a unique point of view of how a product may fail. This
unique point of view may provide the company the advantage of making early
necessary changes to ensure a successful launch of the product. Unfortunately,
due to the natural tendency and attitude of this agent, it is hard to get this
agent on board of the new vision or goal of the company.
The pragmatist agent believes that
there is a possibility that the goals and visions can be reached but once it
takes a close look at it, the agent begins to believe that the goals and
visions can only be reached in theory but not in reality. Therefore, the negative
aspect of this agent is that once they have realized that the goal can only be
reached in theory and not in reality, their mind is made up and it does not
matter how many facts anyone presents them saying otherwise. This agent does
not change their mind, feelings, and behaviors of the supposed theory. A
positive trait of this agent is their solid structure of following practices,
laws, and rules as well as their efficiency using the current practices. This
only continues to be a positive trait until change or a “bump” on the road is
encountered. Due to their natural response and attitude towards change, these
two agents stay behind from the learning curve and are the last few individuals
to join the “new movement” or vision of the company.
The third agent presented in the
video is the visionary agent. This agent has the positive aspects of idealism,
charisma, vision of the future, and believes of having complete control of
their own destiny. Due to this agent’s natural tendency to follow his/her own
desires and visions, their natural characteristics makes it easier for them to
have others buy in into their vision. Unfortunately, one negative aspect of
this situation is that the agent may begin to lose sight of what is real and
achievable to a fantasy/theory that may not be successful or achievable.
Typically, where there’s a visionary agent, there’s a power player agent. A
positive aspect of the power player agent is helping the visionary agent reach
the vision by keeping things into perspective and having others (the crowd)
follow the vision. In other words, the vision is the bridge to the future and
the power player helps implement the changes necessary to reach the vision as
well helping others cross over to the new future or vision. In my opinion, the
negative trait of this agent is his/her influence in the company. Since this
person may have others following him/her, this agent may lead others down the
wrong path.
The last agent needed to reach the
new change of the future is the crowd. The crowd is the rest of the group of
people buying into the new vision. Now that new vision is foreseeable and
achievable, the crowd jumps in together to the new way of completing tasks
without much resistance. Unfortunately, the negative trait of the crowd is that
if enough people within the crowd resist change or reject the new vision, the
crowd will hold back the company from reaching new heights, goals, and visions
of the future. In my opinion, within a company I believe it is healthy and
necessary for the company to have all the agents mentioned above. Even though
each agent may have his/her own negative aspects, it is hard for a company to function
well and continue growing without the presence of the pessimists and pragmatist
agents. I like to think of them as the people who keep the company and others
grounded in what is real and achievable to what is just a theory or fantasy. Without
the presence of these agents the visionary, the power player and the crowd may
continue to follow a new vision but lose sight along the way of what is real.
Therefore, yes I believe that it is healthy for a functioning company to have
present all the agents mentioned above.
