Idealistic Pragmatism

It seems to me that social entrepreneurs and businesspeople working in the intersection of social impact should exude a type of 'idealistic pragmatism'. We need people who can simultaneously dream of a different reality, while having the practical skills to build it. They are kind of living oxymorons. I find that in my short lived experience, engineers are typically engineers, & visionaries are visionaries, and artists are artists. But certain niche vocations require people with 'texture' - the ability to hold idealism and pragmatism in tension.

I like to formulate the problem this way, taking the example of social impact:

From the perspective of the pragmatist

1. What is the point of social impact if you don't yet already believe that something is broken and is in need of fixing?
2. How can you believe that something needs fixing if you cannot imagine an idealized version of the world?
3. How can you imagine an idealized version of the world if you are purely a pragmatist?

From the perspective of the idealist

1. How do you tackle social impact if you can't engineer a path to change it?
2. How can you engineer a path to change something if you do not understand systems, structure, and have the right technical skills?
3. How can you invest to learn about systems, structure, and build the right technical skills if you are purely an idealist?

While this can be alleviated with collaboration, at the seed stage, some measure of both must exist in one person. We need futuristic builders, practical idealists, imaginative rationalists, hopeful realists, and a healthy dose of disciplined imagination. As C.S Lewis put it - "Reason is the organ of truth, imagination is the organ of meaning". We need them both.