(Acknowledgements to Roy Crown, after his talk at the CVM Gathering, 26.06.11).<\/p>\n
Pete:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens \u2018specially when I\u2019m driving alone on a long journey. I\u2019ll get one of my big ideas. It\u2019ll be something which will solve loads of our problems in one go, or make the work go ballistic. They come from something that\u2019s happened to me in the past or some random thing will spark one off. Sometimes they come from other people who\u2019ve had a similar idea but they don\u2019t seem to see its full potential, or they just can\u2019t be bothered to do anything. I\u2019ll get really fired up about an idea because I can see the potential straight away. I\u2019m good at selling an idea to other people and getting them fired up as well. I just crack on with it. It makes me feel full of energy and I can put loads of hours in\u2014no problem, networking and getting everybody behind it. Sometimes my head\u2019s so full of these things, I think it might burst. It\u2019s difficult keeping so many projects on the boil and new, even better ideas keep coming to me… \u201c<\/p>\n
Tim:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen one of these \u2018ideas\u2019 blokes tells me about his latest one, my mind switches onto it straight away. It takes about a second for my head to fill with all the implications that nobody else thinks about. I can see at once the overestimates and underestimates that I already know the\u2019ideas\u2019 bloke\u2019s made. I\u2019ve seen them stumble into the same pitfalls before and I remember all that, where they forget. I can get completely absorbed by all this. It\u2019s mouth-watering. I can put loads of hours in\u2014no problem, usually on my own, beavering away, planning and turning an idea into reality. I don\u2019t like making a song and dance about stuff with other people. I\u2019m just not like these \u2018ideas\u2019 blokes…\u201d<\/p>\n
Pete:<\/p>\n
\u201c… Then I talk to my colleague Tim about it. He doesn\u2019t ever seem to get excited, unlike most other people. He gets this look–his face glazes over. He might manage a, \u201cThat\u2019s really good…\u201d But it comes out so flat, you know it\u2019s forced. And it\u2019s usually followed by, \u201cBut \u2018ang on, what about…\u201d And then it starts\u2014all the things that might go wrong, all the risks, the deadlines and so on and on and on. Trying to listen to Tim\u2019s like watching a dumper trunk pouring out a deluge of facts and figures on top of an idea, so it gets buried. You just get lost in it all…\u201d<\/p>\n
Tim:<\/p>\n
\u201c…like Pete. On the rare occasions when I get him to stop long enough for a serious conversation, he just doesn\u2019t seem to listen. He\u2019s so excitable. He gets this look\u2014his face glazes over. He doesn\u2019t get how much time and effort there is between just having an idea and actually making it happen. The devil really is in the detail. He gets bored with details. He\u2019s got so many projects on the boil, the work is littered with stuff he\u2019s put on the back burner. Who knows when it\u2019ll come off ? You don\u2019t want to give him any of your own ideas. I\u2019ve tried and two weeks later he\u2019s back selling it to you as one of his…\u201d<\/p>\n
Pete:<\/p>\n
\u201c…That Tim, he\u2019s so negative. He\u2019s an irritating nitpicker. He kills things off. He pees me off completely. I just can\u2019t understand him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tim:<\/p>\n
\u201c…That Pete, he\u2019s an airhead. He\u2019s a superficial thinker. He\u2019s over-optimistic and naive. He pees me off completely. I just can\u2019t understand him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read. John 21, 1-14, about Peter who jumped in and the rest who rowed the catch to shore; and 1 Corinthians 12, 12-26, about body parts who argue with each other.<\/p>\n
Pete, the visionary leader who jumps straight in and Tim, the administrative genius, who\u2019s rowing to keep up, desperately need each other. They\u2019re different parts of the body. Working apart, they\u2019re stuffed. Working in the (difficult) unity of The Spirit, trying to understand each other\u2019s gifts and patiently making allowances, they could win the World.<\/p>\n