The president had spent most of his life in the roles of professional, technician, and producer. Because he enjoyed production, he spent half his time personally answering calls and letters and micro-managing. That experience taught me the supreme importance of imagination over memory. If people live out of their memory, they're bound to the past if they live out of imagination, they create opportunity. Effective executives focus on the future.
Imagination is more powerful and significant than memory.
This balance between the changing stream and the changeless core is one of the clearest manifestations of the primary habit of effective people be proactive. Proactive people see opportunities everywhere, and they adapt to the stream. They have the power to adapt because they're coming from something that does not change. They're very creative in their minds and innovative in their methods. They're not hung up by forms and structures and old modes of thinking and ways of behaving.