9.11.11

Too Weak To Tweak (but try me. please.)

If we were all to be divided into either visionaries or tweakers, I would relate better with the tweakers.  The visionaries invent, the tweakers perfect.  I am simply a much less ambitious tweaker than anyone you would ever read about—a sort of couch-tweaker, or when-I-get-around-to-it or the-opportunity-presents-itself sort of tweaker.
Nevertheless, it was nice to read Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker article The Tweaker, about Steve "The Tweaker's Tweaker" Jobs, in particular this portion, and most particularly the last sentence thereof:
"The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world. The tweaker inherits things as they are, and has to push and pull them toward some more nearly perfect solution. That is not a lesser task."

Especially since—as the forwards in soccer or the leadership in institutions or the with-it people of everyday—the visionaries tend to receive most of the credit.  

And so, in the words of Steve himself, I remind the world, the incessant dream-demanders, the well-intentioned idea-vomiters, and of course, the Self, that there's a good chance “You’ve got to show me some stuff, and I’ll know it when I see it.”

2 comments:

Anthony said...

Solid bro. I dig this.

Jason M said...

Awesome. Anyone can dream dreams, but it takes real gonads to put them to action. Keep Tweaking and maybe one day we'll read something about our efforts. ;)