Talkers v/s Doers – Interesting Paragraph from Harvard Business

Two years into my career, I had a colleague who was a talker. He would incessantly talk about what he did through the day, how he handled a situation, how he found problems with what someone was doing and so on. You get the point. He was an expert at tooting his horns and exhibit how much he was doing. He would ruthlessly take credits for things others do. Needless to say, people started equating his talk with his deeds. He was soon exposed. His ultimate resort was to really do things and then talk about it.

I am reminded of this colleague (and many other colleagues like him) after reading “Talking vs. Doing” post at Harvard Business by John Maeda and Becky Bermont. The post asks some thought provoking questions which unfortunately has no straightforward answers.

To extrapolate a bit, what she or he was pointing out is that it is a forum that caters to the “talkers.” Taken further, you could ask: What about the “doers” — those who produce great work, and let it speak for itself? Do we all need to broadcast our work?

I don’t think great work needs any broadcast. It speaks for itself.

It further says –

It’s easy for raises to go to those who ask for them, and for credit to go to those who repeat their accomplishments over and over. There’s nothing wrong with this per se, if the talkers are deserving. But how can we make sure we’re rewarding those who quietly produce results as well? What do you do to pull out the hidden gems in your organization and make sure they see the light of day? Must everyone be taught how to “talk”?

The post ends with a million dollar question – Does everyone need to be taught how to talk and exhibit their accomplishments? Can’t there be a system of performance evaluation where real doers are discovered and rewarded?

From a career perspective, it is important to strike a balance between how much you do and how much you talk. But here is the thing – When silent doers produce great results, results speak for itself. “Just enough” communication about it can make those great results “discoverable”.

Here is my takeaway –

• Doing much and talking just enough is the best strategy.
• Doing much and not talking about it (silent doing) is a long term strategy (if you are patient enough not to get frustrated and move on).
• Doing little and talking too much about it may seem rewarding in short term but is not a sustainable strategy for long term career success.

Do you agree with these? What have been your experiences? I would love to explore perspectives.