Grinders

Grinders get the work done. They are detail-doers. Grinders document things, are risk-

adverse, like few variables, take things one step at a time, have a low tolerance for ambiguity,

understand tasks and the need to solve problems, handle administrative details well, and

deliver working drawings. They do the same thing over and over again, year after year - and

love it. If you change the way they do things, you will hear from them. The world cannot

operate without grinders. By the way, real grinders are not offended by this term. They proudly

grind it out, day after day.

Minders

Minders can manage a unit team, having both the people skills and the organizational

abilities to do so. They can supervise the performance of work. They function best as frontline

supervisors, have the ability to diagnose problems, “mind the store,” and put out “brush fires.”

They can run a department, ministry or program and manage people in their area of expertise.

They are usually supervisors, teachers, chief engineers, section leaders, ministry program

leaders and foremen. They can be counted on to keep the processes and teams functioning

and running well.

Keepers

Keepers are capable of managing the whole store, possessing an appreciation for the

administrative and the strategic. They have both concrete and abstract thinking skills, but will

be biased to the administrative/operational work.

Thinking Wavelength

The 5 Types of Thinkers

They make great mediators in conflicts, good personnel managers, directors of departments or

ministry programs, plant managers, and executive assistants. They handle details and see the

broader vision. They handle many variables, are organized, and good with people.

Grinders

Grinders get the work done. They are detail-doers. Grinders document things, are risk-

adverse, like few variables, take things one step at a time, have a low tolerance for ambiguity,

understand tasks and the need to solve problems, handle administrative details well, and

deliver working drawings. They do the same thing over and over again, year after year - and

love it. If you change the way they do things, you will hear from them. The world cannot

operate without grinders. By the way, real grinders are not offended by this term. They proudly

grind it out, day after day.

Minders

Minders can manage a unit team, having both the people skills and the organizational

abilities to do so. They can supervise the performance of work. They function best as frontline

supervisors, have the ability to diagnose problems, “mind the store,” and put out “brush fires.”

They can run a department, ministry or program and manage people in their area of expertise.

They are usually supervisors, teachers, chief engineers, section leaders, ministry program

leaders and foremen. They can be counted on to keep the processes and teams functioning

and running well.

Keepers

Keepers are capable of managing the whole store, possessing an appreciation for the

administrative and the strategic. They have both concrete and abstract thinking skills, but will

be biased to the administrative/operational work.

Thinking Wavelength

The 5 Types of Thinkers

They make great mediators in conflicts, good personnel managers, directors of departments or

ministry programs, plant managers, and executive assistants. They handle details and see the

broader vision. They handle many variables, are organized, and good with people.

Finders

Finders are often entrepreneurs, in some form. They are abstract thinkers, so they oftentimes

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don’t complete the paperwork that concrete thinkers require. They may appear to be loose

cannons in a group structure. They are innovators and creators. Follow-through is not always

their strength. They need grinders, minders, and keepers to follow in their wake of creativity.

They sense and seize opportunities, spot voids and fill them, are bored by a steady state, are

good site locators, love a new challenge, must be thrown “raw meat” regularly. They are usually

the chief executive officer, chief visionary, lead pastor, leader of a major ministry, product or

market manager, joint venture leader, and advanced development engineer. Unlike conceivers,

finders want to ensure that their ideas work in the first-generation prototype. But once they are

assured that it does, they must hand it off to a keeper to build upon and find something else to

find.

Conceivers

Conceivers are usually bright, articulate and persuasive, but they don’t bring things to closure.

They work best in universities, seminaries, and pure research laboratories. They don’t belong

in business. They cannot manage others well, and their ideas rarely become commercialized or

brought to the masses. They are oftentimes criticized for “all talk and no follow through.”

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Thinking Wavelength

The 5 Types of Thinkers

They embrace risks, draw little sketches, can make quantum leaps, welcome change, are

strategic, produce seminal concepts, enjoy manay variables, are opportunity oriented, have

a high tolerance for ambiguity, postulate the new (but don’t execute), and love the forty-

thousand-foot-macro-view. Conceivers are theorists typically employed as researchers,

philosophy professors, theologians, and innovators.

Now, based on these descriptions, answer the following question: If you had to pick one

number ont he scale of 1-10 and live there the rest of your life, where would you be the

happiest and contribute the greatest? _______________

Most likely, the number you picked is within 1.0 of the number you calculated when you added

up the six numbers and divided by six earlier. Take these two numbers and split the difference

(e.g., if you had a “6.5” on the first score and picked a “7.5”, then call it a 7.0). This is your high-

contribution zone. Now chart where you spend 80% of your time in your current role. How

close is it to your thinking wavelength high-contribution zone? If it’s within 1.0, it’s a good

match. If it’s more than 2.0, it’s problematic. Those who have more than a 2.0 gap oftentimes

quit, are fired or move on in some way within 18 months unless this gap is narrowed. If they

don’t narrow the gap, depression, frustration, burnout and illness fromt he stress of living too

far away from their high-contribution zone set in.