Keeping Perspective

A recent story about Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi in Fast Company illustrates beautifully and tragically the pitfall that awaits visionary leaders who forget that execution matters just as much and sometimes more. Agassi's vision was for electric cars and a system to support them across Israel through a company called Better Place.

Agassi got virtually every meeting he ever asked for--with world leaders, celebrities, and CEOs of some of the world's largest companies. The press anointed him the creator of a Next Big Thing. (Fast Company included Agassi on its 2009 Most Creative People in Business list.) Money from investors came fast and in big waves, roughly $900 million, and it seemed like it would never stop flowing. Until, suddenly, it did.

How did a company with so much going for it stumble so badly? ­Agassi's grand vision gave Better Place life, but according to former employees, investors, and board members, that same grand vision also ultimately destroyed it. Entrepreneurs are frequently told not to drink their own Kool-Aid--which is to say, to remember that the stories they tell about how their products will save humanity are just that.

Privately, they are cautioned to focus on the small things; to make more money than they lose; to cut costs when needed; and, when necessary, to pivot to a more promising business. The caution seems especially important in a culture that increasingly celebrates startups, threatening to confuse their mythmaking with reality. Agassi made great Kool-Aid and then drank it all himself.

The italics are mine, but the text makes the point that great ideas must be matched by great execution. We hire leaders for vision, just like we throw money at entrepreneurs with great ideas, but what make or breaks you is getting things done.