On types of planners.

'Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see' - Arthur Schopenhauer. I was thinking about types of planners out there following a conversation with a great planning director and we were debating the virtues of various 'types' of planners. Labels abound of-course, account planner, creative planner, communication planner, digital planner etc. Yet the only types I could come up with were simply two: the first are planners who are brilliant at de-construction: these are the folks who are great at telling you how the world works. Typically because they come from research and curiosity backgrounds / mindsets. The other type are the planners who are brilliant at construction. These are the ones who are into how the world 'could' work. The latter type don't need a curiosity background. Sadly i was say that the latter are the rarer variety. I suppose the difference between the two is what Schopenhauer described between the talented and the genius. Finally, as far as planning processes go wouldn't it be simpler to narrow down the planning cycle to two phases: Deconstruction - Reconstruction. The first is about understanding 'how the world works?' and the second is about 'how it could work?'. If it is one planner who is doing both then he/she would need to swap hats somewhere in the middle but you could always have two planners the de-constructionist and the re-constructionist in charge of each phase.

via Planning on Subversion