Thread: The Big Secret in helping you speed up

Originally Posted by secretentourage

There is a funny feeling whenever you talk to a new entrepreneur about their idea and ask them to explain how it will work or what the end result is supposed to look like. It seems as though many entrepreneurs are afraid to share their ideas, as they believe others may steal them or duplicate them, even at times perhaps faster than themselves — but is that feeling warranted, or is it just paranoia? Regardless of what it is, it keeps you from getting into the fast lane.

One of best pieces of advice I ever received was from a very successful self-made man who once told me "The world is up to its ass in great ideas. What counts is execution".

And I think he's right. You don't have to worry about somebody stealing your idea, as most people don't have the initiative, the drive and the tenacity to execute their own ideas let alone somebody else's. The poster is right, keeping your cards to your chest may do you more harm than good.

You tell somebody about your idea and they may either point out a problem with it that you need to solve, or they may become interested enough to become an ally or somehow involved. You may even realize that your idea isn't a good one, or that you're basic concept is flawed.

But in general, if the idea exists solely in your own mind, it runs the risk of staying there. Sharing it with others gets some reality testing and quite possibly some crucial refinement that makes it a game-changer.

Well said ^^^

I had this exact discussion the other day. Someone asked what I was up to and followed with," I totally understand if you don't want to share your idea."(slow lane anyone?) and she was surprised when I told her,"ideas are dime a dozen. Execution is the deciding factor."

Originally Posted by secretentourage

Do you have a plan for making your idea a reality? More importantly, do you possess the skills required to create and deliver the creativity from idea to reality? Many may think they know how to do so, but often realize too late in their project that their imagination exceeds their skills, finding themselves at a major disadvantage.

This is rather vague to me. What IS a 'winning skillset', anyway? And how exactly would one assess their own skills against the skills needed for a certain project?

Obviously all big successes that everyone knows about by definition were "executed". Therefore it appears that execution is what counts. However, we never hear or read about all the poorly formed untested lousy ideas that were executed perfectly according to a (secret) plan. In that case, execution doesn't matter.

So I guess it depends on what type of "execution" is being commended. If it's the type of execution that involves sharing ideas, testing them, making sure that they are validated, yes sure execution is what counts. But if it's the type of execution that means "having an idea", then "making a plan" based on that idea, and then "following that plan", with progress measured by certain metrics (milestones on gantt charts etc), then that kind of execution is not such a wonderful thing to get excited about. And I think in most general use, the second type of execution is what people think of when they hear things like "execution is what counts", especially as the second type is the one found in typical "office work" projects. Just making a distinction there.

Originally Posted by The-J

This is rather vague to me. What IS a 'winning skillset', anyway? And how exactly would one assess their own skills against the skills needed for a certain project?

You understand what it takes to bring something to life and what skills you will need to do so. For example, you might be IT and you have an idea that will revolutionize the health care industry but has no relevance to IT, but rather is about robotics. You need one of three skills to make that work: 1. you need to be a great relationship builder so you can convince a robotics expert to join you in your quest, 2.You must have lots of money to BUY the Robotics guy to join you, 3. You must know robotics.

People often dont have any of the 3 but yet have great ideas around something that is out of their reach. As a result of their lack of skill, they never move to the execution stage but rather look at it as a great idea they must shelter from others.

Originally Posted by Twiki

Obviously all big successes that everyone knows about by definition were "executed". Therefore it appears that execution is what counts. However, we never hear or read about all the poorly formed untested lousy ideas that were executed perfectly according to a (secret) plan. In that case, execution doesn't matter.

So I guess it depends on what type of "execution" is being commended. If it's the type of execution that involves sharing ideas, testing them, making sure that they are validated, yes sure execution is what counts. But if it's the type of execution that means "having an idea", then "making a plan" based on that idea, and then "following that plan", with progress measured by certain metrics (milestones on gantt charts etc), then that kind of execution is not such a wonderful thing to get excited about. And I think in most general use, the second type of execution is what people think of when they hear things like "execution is what counts", especially as the second type is the one found in typical "office work" projects. Just making a distinction there.

Execution is not planning but rather simply actions towards a goal, rather than thoughts towards a dream.