The UnStoppables: Tapping Your Entrepreneurial Power

Chapter 6

The Big Picture in an Hour

Ideas, People, and Execution

IDEAS, PEOPLE, AND EXECUTION are the three words at the heart of every successful enterprise. They won’t tell you exactly what tactics you’re going to focus on each day; that comes next. But they’ll frame up the big picture of what your mission is about. The big picture aligns the little picture—the individual decisions and actions that move you forward, one step at a time. Any Navy SEAL will tell you that you need a constant, seamless scan between big picture and little picture. Big picture/little picture. The Israeli Defense Force experts consider their constant habit of calibrating big picture/little picture to be one of their key success factors. They require every member of a true team to internalize it, too, in order for them to reach their highest battlefield potential. So we’re going to spend a moment here on the big picture.

When I boil it down from everything I’ve read and studied, I think most experts would agree that every aspect of business can be extrapolated from these three general categories:

• Idea is the what and why. That means it covers mission, vision, value proposition, nature of product and service, innovation, differentiation, problem and solution, and so forth.
• People is the who and the human. It covers the founders, managers, teams, culture, talent, integrity, energy, and commitment on the inside, as well as relationships with customers, vendors, and partners on the outside.
• Execution is ...