• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Sources of Insight

Better Insights, Better Results

  • About
  • Latest
  • Articles
  • Books
  • Courses
  • Topics
    • Emotional Intelligence
    • Intellectual Horsepower
    • Happiness
    • Leadership
    • Mental Health
    • Personal Development
    • All Topics
  • Resources
    • Books I Recommend
    • Book Summaries
    • Great Lessons
    • Great Quotes
    • Products I Recommend
    • All Resources
  • Contact

The Market Rewards Execution, Not Ideas

by JD

image

“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” — Bill Gates

Do you have a bunch of good ideas that just don’t go anywhere?

Are you wondering why the Pet Rock idea went big and your idea didn’t?

Execution is a large part of the equation.

The market rewards execution.

It has plenty of ideas.

In the book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life, Scott Adams shares his insight that good ideas are readily available, but the execution of good ideas is not.

The “Good” Idea

It was a good idea.  But not one that the market would pay for.

Via How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life:
“In the seventies, tennis players sometimes used rosin bags to keep their racket hands less sweaty.  In college I built a prototype of a rosin bag that attached to a Velcro strip on tennis shorts so it would always be available when needed.  My lawyer told me it wasn’t patent worthy because it was simply a combination of two existing products.  I approached some sporting good companies and got nothing but form-letter rejections. “

Good Ideas Have No Value

There are too many of them.

Via How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life:

“I dropped the idea.  But in the process I learned a valuable lessons: Good ideas have no value because the world already has too many of them.  The market rewards execution, not ideas.  From that point on, I concentrated on ideas I could execute.  I was already failing toward success, but I didn’t know it yet.”

Interestingly, in my line of work, which is effectively helping people and businesses transform and realize their value, one of the most important checks we do against any idea is “ability to execute.”

If the impact would be high, but the ability to execute is low, we find other ideas we can execute first to build some momentum.

You Might Also Like

Dreamers, Doers, and Incrementalists

Focus on the Wildly Important

Zig Ziglar on Setting Goals

Image by Renato Ganoza.

Category: Big Ideas, Book Nuggets, Business Effectiveness

About JD

Previous Post:Your Job is to Find a Better Job
Next Post:The Key to Success is Not Passionthe key to success is not passion

Sidebar

About the Author

JDI am J.D. Meier. Join me on a quest for the world's best insights and actions for work and life. Learn more...

My Best-Selling Book

This is the book that changes lives ...

Become the Greatest Version of Yourself!

Learn better skills for work and life. Stand on the shoulders of giants and awaken your greatness. Realize your human potential through the world’s best insights and actions for mind, body, emotions, career, finance, relationships, and fun.

Features

  • Book Summaries
  • Books I Recommend
  • Great Lessons Learned
  • Great Quotes
  • How Tos
  • Lists
  • Best Products

My Other Sites

JD Meier.com
Getting Results.com

Copyright © 2023 · Sources of Insight · All Rights Reserved