EXECUTION is Much More Important than Ideas

Steve Jobs in black and white with a quote saying To me ideas are worth nothing unless executed They're just a multiplier Execution is worth millions

Amazingly, two of the world’s largest management consulting firms – McKinsey ($8.8 billion annual revenue) and Bain ($3.8 billion annual revenue) – no longer focus on giving their clients new ideas.

Where once these firms almost exclusively prided themselves on their “Think Tank” strategy and idea generation expertise, now their fastest-growing practice areas focus on “grittier” execution work – especially with technology projects like digital marketing, hardware and software modernization, metrics dashboarding, and business automation through artificial intelligence and machine learning, among others.

In fact, some of Bain’s largest projects now involve helping clients execute on ideas that they generate themselves but on their own can’t get done!

Now you would think an execution-focused business environment would be one where smaller and normally far more efficient companies would thrive and compete very well vis-a-vis their larger brethren.

But too often, unfortunately,  small company executives find themselves caught in a “keep the lights on” survival cycle, or – even worse – just waiting with forlorn hope for that “big idea” to save them.

And what gets crowded out are many, very easy execution-based approaches to growing a business.

Like simply working harder and longer.

Or learning how to complete projects more quickly and cost-effectively.

Or how to reduce labor costs and make our core team more productive via business automation tools and platforms.

Luckily, learning how to execute better has never been easier, as hundreds of awesome books, articles, websites, and role models on the topic are readily available to us.

And…even when deep down we know that no matter how much we try, we won’t be able to get the big and important stuff done on our own…

…well just like Bain does for its biggest clients, smaller businesses too can contract with outsourced partners to have those ideas done for them.

The first, most important step is simply putting great execution right toward the top of our company values chart.

For inspiration, think of the entrepreneurial legends – Ford with the Model T, Watson with the computer, Disney with the theme park, Gates and Allen with software, Wynn with modern Las Vegas, Bezos with e-commerce, Zuckerberg with social media, Musk with the electric car, and on and on…

Entrepreneurs all with very big ideas….

…but even bigger commitment to the thousand million details, projects, and to-dos to transform those ideas into brilliant business reality.

 

Need Better Execution in Your Business?

Have good ideas but need a burst of better business execution to get them done?

If so, we should talk.

Click here and complete this short questionnaire as to a few questions regarding your business’ current status, and key goals now.

And we’ll reach out with our thoughts to help you.

Let Our Experts Help You

Get a Free Consultation

Recent Posts