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Anais Babajanian

Every Business Visionary Needs an Operator: Which One Are You?

Published 2 months ago • 1 min read

Hi Reader,

Barbara Corcoran says there are two kinds of people in business: expanders and containers. The EOS world calls them visionaries and integrators. Whatever you call them, every business has both.

The visionary gets the TED talk. The operator gets the to-do list.

I see this dynamic constantly in the businesses and leaders I work with. The visionary business owner is full of ideas, always pushing forward, always seeing what's around the corner. But behind them, the operator is drowning. They're managing the team, building the systems, keeping clients happy, and holding everything together while the visionary keeps expanding without looking back.

And neither one understands why they're frustrated with the other.

The visionary thinks the operator is slowing them down. The operator thinks the visionary is being reckless. But the truth is they need each other desperately. A visionary without an operator builds a business that grows fast and breaks. An operator without a visionary builds something stable that never goes anywhere.

The real work is owning which one you are and building accordingly. If you're a visionary, stop hiring more visionaries. Find your operator and give them real authority, not just more responsibility. If you're an operator, stop trying to force yourself into a visionary's role. Find the visionary whose mission you believe in and go make it work.

I'm an operator. I've always been one. And I've had to learn this lesson the hard way, including what happens when an operator tries to be both the visionary and the operator of their own business.

I wrote about all of it on the blog this week - check out the full post here → Every Visionary Needs an Operator: Which One Are You?​

If this resonates, reply and let me know: are you the visionary or the operator? I'd love to hear what that's been like for you.

Cheers,

Anais

P.S. If you're a visionary who knows your business needs a stronger operator beside you, whether that's developing your ops leader, tightening your systems, or having someone who gets the operational side in your corner, that's what I do. Let's chat:

P.S.S. If you enjoyed reading this, please send it to someone who might find it helpful as well. If you were forwarded this email, please consider subscribing to receive future issues and follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram for more business and leadership content.

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." - African proverb

Anais Babajanian

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