The title of this blog post became my favorite saying after watching a segment on CBS’s Sunday Morning (Walter Isaacson on the Traits of “Innovators“).
The origin of this quote? Wikipedia gives some insight HERE.
For me it doesn’t really matter who said it, it’s a quote that the serial entrepreneur part of me embraces with passion.
And so…
A great vision is the key for building a sustainable career and/or valuable business.
A great vision:
- Is clear, concise, and understandable.
- Is inspiring and motivational to those that are trying to execute on it, or buy into it (e.g.: customers, partners, consumers, etc.)
- Expresses the most universal core values (not evil or with malicious intent) and aspirations of the proposed career path or business.
But to move from hallucination to reality, requires hard-work and hard-core execution.
The keys to effective execution include:
Clear plan and objectives
Great execution starts with a plan. The plan sets the stage with strategy (the why), then lays out the objectives (the what), and then the required steps and actions (the how), to be carried out by the respective team members (the who), and the time frame in which the actions should be accomplished (the when). Like the vision, it needs to be clear. Unlike the vision, it needs to be as comprehensive as possible, with an educated healthy appreciation of the risks and challenges, and well thought-out “plan B’s” for all the major challenges, risk points or hurdles.
There are many tried and true frameworks and strategies that can help leaders and entrepreneurs design a great plan that sets them up for successful execution, but in my opinion, one of the most effective of these frameworks is knowing what your life and leadership is all about and when you are being true to yourself (Book: “True North” by Bill George and Peter Sims). I’m also a fan of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis as a key preparation exercise heading into a planning process.
NOTE: on SWOT – people sometimes get confused between the first two and the second two and struggle a bit with the differences. Strengths and Weaknesses are internally focused; Opportunities and Threats are externally focused.
As to objectives, it’s imperative that the objectives be relevant, meaningful, unambiguous and very very measurable.
Focus
Once a clear executable plan with properly aligned resources and capital is in place, focus becomes paramount. More start-ups go astray by either losing their focus on the plan and objectives, chasing down distracting shiny new objects, or by getting caught up in trivial details and losing sight of the overall objectives and outcomes. Maintaining focus, along with building a great team, and raising capital and resources, are probably the three most important jobs of an early stage of the entrepreneur, after the vision and the plan is set.
Common techniques for maintaining focus are to post the key objectives and milestones publicly; to review the milestones at the start of all meetings; to tie bonus or variable compensation to their achievement; and is often overlooked. But perhaps the most important of all, to explicitly state WHY those milestones are important.
People are far more willing to chase bold and risky goals, to achieve extraordinary results, and to make the sacrifices necessary to deliver ground-breaking outcomes when they understand “why” the goals matter.
Explaining “why” may be the most important thing you can do to achieve the goals.
Motivated Team
Whether it’s a Super Bowl team (I am a New York Giants Fan!) or a startup team, extraordinary effort is required to get to the top and deliver a outstanding performance. Explaining “why” is an important element of building a motivated team. So is shared sacrifice. Even though most of my work as a senior master teacher at a successful martial arts school had to be done between 4pm and 8pm, I start my days at 4am and spend many hours connecting via various technologies training, encouraging, motivating, inspiring and yes, even disciplining other instructors in our organization. And so, with shared sacrifice must come shared success and victories, and shared rewards.
Celebrating wins within the team or company, whether in service/product development, sales, customer success, etc., is a key element of keeping the team motivated. So is personalizing the customer, through published success stories, customer testimonies prominently displayed in the reception area and on company websites and social networks, even pictures of which new students that brought us that week’s ‘paycheck.’
Measurable Intermediate Milestones
Intermediate milestones are a crucial tool to maintaining focus and pace. It’s hard to keep focus or feel a sense of urgency when milestones are many months or quarters out. Intermediate weekly, even daily, milestones give a measuring stick and a goal toward which to sprint that is within easy sight and distance.
They also give an early-warning indicator to know where you are in the journey and if you are ahead or behind the desired pace. It’s much easier, much less stressful, and significantly less costly to adjust and correct early in the journey.
Tools like Google Drive (shared spreadsheets) help teams do just this.
Creative Resource Guarding
Make no mistake – start-up capital is unforgivably expensive. You don’t want to take a penny more than you need to reach your next major goal. At the same time, you do not want to come up short, as that can be even more expensive. It’s a tricky balance, but it’s what an entrepreneur must learn how to do. In all cases, there must be enough capital and resources available to get the job done.
Resource guarding is a term dog trainers use to describe a dog that isn’t friendly to other dogs or people when its food or toys are approached or threatened. Good entrepreneurs need to be like that snarling dog; you paid a great price for your experience, well-honed gifts and talent and that capital you’ve saved or raised. Guard it viciously; make sure every asset is spent and used wisely; and only utilize it on your execution of the plan and objectives.
I’ll end this post with this quote: “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” – Jack Welch
