Chris Bailey

Ideas are worthless, and execution is worth everything

by | Apr 30, 2013 | General Productivity

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It’s funny how an article from 2005 can still be so relevant today. About eight years ago, Derek Silvers (the founder of CDBaby) wrote about how ideas are worthless by themselves, and only become worth something when they’re multiplied by great execution.

I’m tempted to post his article in full because it’s so short and sweet, but I’ll resist and link to it here. Well worth a read – his math is below.

AWFUL IDEA = -1
WEAK IDEA = 1
SO-SO IDEA = 5
GOOD IDEA = 10
GREAT IDEA = 15
BRILLIANT IDEA = 20

NO EXECUTION = $1
WEAK EXECUTION = $1000
SO-SO- EXECUTION = $10,000
GOOD EXECUTION = $100,000
GREAT EXECUTION = $1,000,000
BRILLIANT EXECUTION = $10,000,000

To make a business, you need to multiply the two.

Image source!

Written by Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey has written hundreds of articles on the subject of productivity and is the author of three books: How to Calm Your Mind, Hyperfocus, and The Productivity Project. His books have been published in more than 40 languages. Chris writes about productivity on this site and speaks to organizations around the globe on how they can become more productive without hating the process.

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