Z is for... Zealot
Friday, July 13, 2007Like the Evangelist, the Zealot can see no wrong in the particular cause they are thumping the tub for. No matter how obvious it may be to the people surrounding them, they will continue on their unending task of imparting their amazing breadth of knowledge on the subject to all and any that will listen.
While it's great to have people that are really motivated on your project, the Zealot will actually detract from the forward momentum of the project by insisting on 'sticking to the method' or 'doing it by the book'. Often resulting in heading off down blind alleys and wasting valuable time for little or no benefit.
Now, as you will see from other areas of the A-Z, we are firm believers in pragmatism. Unfortunately for the Zealot, the pragmatist can see through all his fluff and techniques and will spot when they start heading off down the blinkered highway to fail-to-deliver-land.
The assumption of course is that you can't just get rid of them of your own free will, likely because they've been imposed on you or your project. If they cannot be instilled with an element of sensibility, there is nothing for it but to either get them off your project, or get them sidelined to the extent they can do no damage.
Fear not, there are a couple of ways forward: marginalisation or vapourisation.
