Everyone talks about great ideas: ideas for their job, their organization, or an exciting new innovation or invention. During research interviews, I often hear about an individual’s great idea. When I ask what the response has been from sharing the idea with others and how they will implement or execute the idea, their eyes glimmer like Gollum from Lord of the Rings and they tell me their “precious” idea isn’t quite ready for others yet! (Said while putting the idea back into their pocket to think about for another 6 months…)
While I appreciate a great idea as much as the next person, what I really want to hear about is the plan for executing and implementing the idea. Great ideas are rarely (RARELY!) successful unless executed, ideas are just a multiplier.
The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20 dollars.
The most brilliant idea takes great execution to be worth $20,000,000.
Execution is the secret sauce no one wants to discuss. Most business magazines don’t tell that side of the story. It isn’t quite as flashy or fun to discuss the daily grind of making an idea successful and the reality of the hard work it takes doesn’t sell too many magazines.
The execution idea below is from the book “Anything You Want”. It is a good quick read that I recommend you check out, especially if you’re an “idea” person.
AWFUL IDEA= -1
WEAK IDEA= 1
SO-SO IDEA= 5
GOOD IDEA= 10
GREAT IDEA= 15
BRILLIANT IDEA= 20
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NO EXECUTION= $1
WEAK EXECUTION= $1000
SO-SO EXECUTION= $10,000
GOOD EXECUTION= $100,000
GREAT EXECUTION= $1,000,000
BRILLIANT EXECUTION= $10,000,000