Great thoughts are not great action

Americans have this mindset, grown from tales of pioneers and settlers bringing civilization to the wilderness and fostered by our individual-oriented society, that one day a leader wakes up with a great idea and the next day the idea is implemented and progress abounds.

It rarely works that way.

More often the Edison model is what really happens.  Thomas Alva Edison, the world's best-known inventor, had plenty of great ideas and he also had the ideas of others of how things should be.  Electric light and power, the phonograph, the motion picture camera, the stock ticker, the fluoroscope and much more are credited to Edison.  What Edison invented changed the world and still shapes our lives.

But Edison's model flies in the face of the myth around it.  He was hardly the leader who has a brainstorm that the next day is implemented.  In Edison's case, the idea, whether his or another person's, would be compelling and he would commit to implement it.  Thus would begin a typically long and arduous quest on his part and others on his staff to achieve a breakthrough.  It would involve building on the work of many others.  It would require great teamwork and planning.

If you are an organizational leader, odds are you have an idea of what your organization might achieve, or that idea can be found and shaped by your team.  In planning, that "great thought" is what we call a strategic vision.  It can capture you and your organization like the light bulb and his other ideas captured Edison and his laboratory team. When implemented it can bring needed change and improvement.

But having the idea is where it starts, not where it ends.  Be ready to plan, organize and work over time in a coordinated way, often going down blind alleys and having to resort to trial and error and new approaches.  Don't look for instant success.  Most often we need the patience and diligence of an Edison, and to coordinate and drive our team to work with us, to bring our strategic vision to fruition.