Discovering the Idealist in the Realist
We generally associate ourselves with one of two types of leadership styles: a realist or an idealist. A realist is defined as someone who has “interest in or concern for the actual or real, as distinguished from the abstract, speculative; the tendency to view or represent things as they really are.” On the other hand, an idealist is defined as someone who “[cherishes] or [pursues] high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc.”
I have always considered myself a realist, heavily relying on logic to work through a situation. If there was some detail in a book or television show that didn’t fit the timeline, I would fixate on that discrepancy, no matter how small. I would close the book or pause the show so I could come up with a logical explanation for it, refusing to accept an oversight and let it go. Though I like that I can be calm and rational when assessing a situation, I also recognize the importance of creativity and dreaming. However, these don’t always come easily to me. While writing my self-assessments for this class, I noticed that I struggled most with coming up with answers to the “how many ways can we…” exercise. I had trouble because I only tried focusing on what I thought was feasible and could be done within the time limit, rather than trying to think outside this range.
Although I call myself a realist, I think we can all agree that none of us are 100% one or the other. A true realist would never get to be creative or think outside the box, and a true idealist would never get any real work done. While it’s true we need both on a team to be truly effective, we also need both within ourselves.
Realists aren’t incapable of dreaming. We just can’t do so by jumping in right away and expecting the best. We have to first assess the situation, come up with small goals, and do some research before we aim for what we truly want. We find comfort in taking small steps because we are able to check off tasks along the way and monitor our progress towards our ultimate goal. However, we still need the idealists to keep us motivated, and we as realists need to keep the idealists in check. I think this quote from Modern Family says it all:
“There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You would think the dreamers would find the dreamers and the realists would find the realists but… more often than not, the opposite is true. You see the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun. And the realists… well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.” — Modern Family
