R.I.P.O.

I realize that I'm coming into this really late in the game - but I'll still post anyway. If you didn't see Dust's post "Get Real", you should read it first.

I've agree with T that Dust's idealized "realist" is actually a blend. When I say blend, I am referring to one of those ubiquitous quadrant models that rate the participant in 4 categories and indicate where you tend to fall out compared to others.

For this example we'll call the quad R.I.P.O (Realist - Idealist - Optimist - Pessimist)

This is most often done as a way to increase communication and effectiveness by helping you see where others fall into the continuum - thereby giving you context for their perspective. The very fact that Dust's definition of a realist shows a blending of styles indicated that he is (or at least aspires to be) a realist.

In our quadrant analysis, I would expect him to rate with a high pessimism score (followed closely by realist). He would score rather low in the idealism section and have very few points in the optimistic quadrant at all (where he places little credibility). All of these indicators help to provide clues about how Dust perceives "creativity" (an idealized trait for Forrest that could be placed in some other quadrant model when contrasted with "structured").

I'll try to come up with another quad for Forrest ..... ummm ..... C.S.I.E. (Creative - Structured - Introvert - Extrovert). It really isn't difficult, and goes to show how little value a consultant really brings other than getting everyone in the room to try to think about the other guy when working together. A model just helps explain difference in an objective way. "Objective" is of course on of my idealized descriptors; anyone want to take a crack at a quad that might describe me???

Take 5 minutes and try it. Steven Covey made several million on his. Then again, he wrote a book too.