You don't get points for predicting rain. You get points for building arks.
Lou GerstnerRead
Vision is easy. It's so easy to just point to the bleachers and say I'm going to hit one over there. What's hard is saying, OK, how do I do that? What are the specific programs, what are the commitments, what are the resources, what are the processes we need in play to go implement the vision, turn it into a working model that people follow every day in the enterprise. That's hard work.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Vision is simple to articulate, but the implementation requires detailed planning and hard work.
This quote by Lou Gerstner emphasizes the distinction between having a vision and the challenges involved in executing that vision effectively. While envisioning future goals may seem straightforward, the true difficulty lies in identifying and organizing the necessary resources, processes, and commitments required to turn these visions into tangible realities that can be followed and integrated into everyday operations. It highlights the importance of strategic planning and diligent execution in achieving success.
Themes
VisionImplementationPlanningSuccessExecution
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting, you could use this quote to emphasize the importance of strategic planning in achieving project goals.
More from Lou Gerstner
All quotes →You can’t mandate [cultural change], can’t engineer it. What you can do is create the conditions for transformation. You can provide incentives. You can define the marketplace realities and goals. But then you have to trust. In fact, in the end, management doesn’t change culture. Management invites the workforce itself to change the culture.
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In the end an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.
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If life was so easy that you could just go buy success, there would be a lot more successful companies in the world. Successful enterprises are built from the ground up.
Lou GerstnerRead
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