In marketing and business generally, Vision is undoubtedly the big star!
All great entrepreneurs are credited with the gift of seeing the future!
But Vision's underestimated sibling is surely Execution.
The first lends itself to sexier, cooler storytelling; the second involves daily struggle and effort.
Steve Jobs embodies vision, while Jeff Bezos is execution's guru.
Vision without execution is just hallucination.
Ford's quote rebalances the importance of the two factors.
Indeed, in our interconnected world, producing or finding good ideas is now easier than executing them.
As discussed in relation to Incidental Marketing the key is being able to act, experiment and change along the way. This requires mastery of execution.
Steve Jobs himself understood this:
"I'm convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."
We could summarise it as:
- Great vision without good execution = Failure
- Great execution without vision = a business sustainable only in the short term, or at most the medium term
- Great vision + great execution = the possibility of leaving a mark on the market and enjoying a thriving business in the long term, through the ability to change and adapt.
In a highly dynamic market, visionary execution is precisely what can make the difference.
