Grand Thinking

Someone once told me there are basically two kinds of people in the world: those who like Barry Manilow and those who don't. That is very possibly true, but in the communication world, there is another dividing line: "big picture" thinkers and detail people who are more comfortable thinking, planning and strategizing down in the trenches. Both are vital to an organization and one is not any better than the other. In an organizational hierarchy, the big picture guys and gals are almost always a notch or two higher up the food chain than those in the trenches and closer to where the action is. The big picture people are usually part of the top rung of an organization. It is they who set organizational policy and determine how their organization will interact or deal with its environment. The detail people, however, are the ones who generally determine how the organization will interact with its environment.

Make no mistake, both of these people are strategic thinkers, but with a twist. The big picture people are the ones who generally set what scholars have labeled "grand strategy." They set policy, determine the kind of relationship their organization will have with its environment, establish goals, and set the entity's ethical tone. They then look to the detail people situated below them to establish a road map to follow to meet those goals. This includes arranging resources, including personnel, and devising objectives and tactics to achieve that feed into those overriding goals. Each person, despite his or her's position within the organization, is important to the success of an organization and very much needs the other.

One key factor they have in common is people. All strategic thinking begins and ends with people. In the case of the grand thinkers, they seek to determine how best to deal with the people external to their organization. Work with them? Ignore them? Partner with them? Compete with them? The detail thinkers cannot and should not ignore people - external and internal - no matter what kind of grand plan the big picture people comes up with. They direct and oversee their colleagues within the organization and then seek to figure out ways that are compatible with their organization's policies to cope with those situated on the outside. Despite this difference, the two are both communicators and, as a result, carry on their shoulders the challenge of connecting with others.