Most of the time that I was reading this post I was nodding my head in agreement. I particularly like where you acknowledge that we all may take on different roles at different times. I was not able to follow why you stated that, “Those not as knowledgeable in a field can still play a role as a Connector, Collector, or Communicator.” It seems like you are indicating that people would take on unchanging roles. I don’t see how a connector role would fit a newbie. Additionally I cannot figure out why, if you are going to distinguish these roles, you would not include the low sense-making, low-sharing role of consumer in the “not as knowledgeable category”.
I have been giving filters a great deal of thought lately and it seems to me that each one of the roles you have identified here could be viewed as process filters.

Your quotation concerning the American army was really interesting. The history of the term the Devil’s Advocate is fascinating. It was established as an official position within the Vatican in 1587 and brought a healthy dose of skepticism to the canonization of saints -and yes, there was also an official position as God’s Advocate.

As I mentioned to you when you first showed me your model – it reminds me of the Kantor Four Player Model which I was introduced in the leadership development at the Banff Centre. The Kantor model contains a mover, a follower, an opposer and a bystander. The two things that seems fairly unique to me about the Kantor model was 1.) the importance of the role of the bystander 2.) that the order in which each role was played out in the change process determined whether the initiative was likely to succeed or fail! So, my question to you is – Have you given any consideration to the importance of sequencing? Is there an importance regarding sequencing?

Lastly, I disagree with your placement of the critic and the creator. I would invert them. In my experience most critics have been on the high side of sharing rather than the low side and many creators are reluctant to share.

Thanks once again for this – lot of food for thought.