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Good Ideas Are Useless Without Execution
We need thinkers and doers, but as individuals, being both is a necessary part of moving forward
For an organization I contribute to, a member in leadership asked us to reframe a question in JFK’s famous “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” We have a lot of people with great ideas and what they want to see implemented. These ideas are often new, exciting, electric, and would push the organization forward.
However, what we have much less of are people willing to do the work and put in hours to improve the organization. People generally just don’t have as much time, so it is not an indictment on anyone’s motivation or commitment, but more so an emphasis we wanted to highlight: execution matters more than ideas. The lesson is the world needs great thinkers, but it also needs great doers.
I do not want to sit on my soapbox and high horse and preach. There are plenty of people out there who think they know exactly what everyone else should be doing, and I’m not one of them. I do, however, find it personally a bit liberating to be a person who thinks less and does more. I’ve known many people who have had terrific ideas, then not had the time to execute them. I have been one of those people who has had great ideas and not…
