Interview with Kenneth Fields – Visionaries, Builders & Maintainers (Part 1)

I had the privilege of interviewing my friend Kenneth Fields regarding the content and journey of writing his recently published book Visionaries, Builders & Maintainers. If you’re a leader working with others to make change happen, this is for you. The interview will be published in 2 parts. This is part 1. (Remember, if you subscribe to my blog by email, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a copy of this book.)

> So tell me about the background of this book. Why did you decide to write it?

I observed that people were more or less successful in implementing changes and I went looking for the reasons why.  Once I came up with my hypothesis that people tended toward one of three change management personalities, I spent a few years testing it before publishing this book.  The main premise is based on an idea I’ve been refining since 2003!

> We’ve talked about the challenges along the way…What were the main ones for you?

I made several false starts trying to find the right way to communicate my ideas.  Once I settled on a parable to explain the concept, I had to find the time to write the book.  I have a ‘day job’ so my writing time was focused from 5 to 6 am 3 mornings per week.  Finally, I had no experience in the publishing world so working through that industry was an interesting challenge.

> It sounds like it took tenacity over a long period of time. What kept you going? Was there some breakthrough that finally enabled you to make progress?

I wrote the introduction to the book in 2006.  After my wife read it, she gave me some very positive feedback.  That was very helpful to me during the ‘dark times’ when I thought it would never get done.  The breakthrough for me was realizing that I didn’t want to write ‘another business book’ but a parable more like Eli Goldratt’s The Goal.  From that point, it took me about 2 months to finish the story told in Visionaries, Builders, and Maintainers.

The Fields Family

> You talk about different types of people in your book – visionaries, builders and maintainers. Just so we get a high level view, can you describe each one briefly?

Visionaries seldom live in the present, preferring to look at the opportunities of the future. They are big idea people, often seeing opportunities before anyone else. Builders like to ‘construct’ things (people, organizations, processes, relationships) until they no longer see opportunities for improvement. Then, it’s time to find something else to build. Finally, Maintainers typically like being ‘experts.’ They excel at doing the same thing, the same way every time.

> What value does each one bring?

To put it simply, I’d say that a visionary imagines, a builder implements, and a maintainer improves performance. 

> Just so it comes alive, could you give me examples of well-known persons that fit your descriptions?

One recent example that comes to mind is Wikipedia.  Every month, over ten billion pages on Wikipedia are viewed around the world. That’s incredible…and it’s how Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales envisioned it. Wales’s vision carried the company for six years. In 2007, the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation had a staff of seven housed in a Florida strip-mall and it was looking for an executive director.  Sue Gardner applied and put in place an organization that could better meet the needs of the millions of Wikipedia contributors.  

If we translate the Wikipedia story into terms from this book, Wales was clearly the visionary. His ideas got the company to the point where a builder was needed and Gardner has successfully filled that role. How does Wikipedia continue to be relevant ten years after its founding when many other (better-funded) sites have failed? I believe the answer is the maintainers. Wikipedia has a base of millions of ‘average citizens’ that police themselves and ensure that the content of Wikipedia meets guidelines that they establish.

(Part 2 of the interview to follow…)