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You have to ask yourself this question, which one do I gravitate towards more? Am I a big picture person with a long term vision or am I a person who understands how to make things run, to make it profitable and to make it efficient in the capacity in which you're going to run your company? I find that people tend to break in one of two ways. Number one, is there a CEO type which is forecasting innovation and long term vision. They're usually ADHD, they're high level thinkers, the 30,000 foot view from a plane and they're not quite really good at detailed stuff. And then you have the other personality which is more of the coo, Chief Operating Officer. They're really good at optimizing and running meetings and making sure things hit on a spreadsheet. They're needed because otherwise work starts to fall through the cracks. We sign contracts that don't represent our intentions or people aren't being hired or scheduled or being brought on the team in a way that is appropriate, efficient or conducive to doing the best work. Some very rare people exhibit both traits that they're good at high level vision and really fine detail. And then the ops person that they work with just make sure everything gets done. Such a person is somebody like Steve Jobs who has the long term vision, the 5, 10, 20 year plan of seeing a device and saying maybe we should make a buttonless phone. That's big picture thinking vision and having the ability to negotiate with large telecom companies, saying, hey, we want to add this new feature called visual voicemail which later on becomes a standard. And this is a classic story where Steve went to a bunch of different companies, but AT&T is the one who said we will do this, we will create visual voicemail for you. We want your business, we believe in the long term vision. And so AT&T wound up becoming the de facto carrier for Apple during its initial launch, I think available only on AT&T for I think two years. But Steve also had the ability to say, you know what, I don't like the way our Apple stores look and he's going to fly out to Italy and pick the exact block of marble that they're going to use and cut and put in the store. So he had that kind of big vision thinking, but also I care that this is the exact slab, maybe in a maniacal way in terms of that kind of level detail and then spec that specific slab of marble and then come back. You have to ask yourself this question, which one do I gravitate towards More, am I a big picture person with a long term vision or am I a person who understands how to make things run, to make it profitable and to make it efficient? I for one am not the latter of the two. I don't like reading contracts. I don't want to follow up with anything. I want to just have the ideas and then have people say, okay, we understand the big idea conceptually. Let's go and marshal the forces and get things together so that your vision can be executed. And a company that is going to perform really well needs to have strong players in both those roles and to know what role each person plays. That's not to say that the visionary can't do the operational stuff or that the operational person doesn't have good ideas. Here's Tim Cook. Under Tim Cook's guidance and leadership as the CEO. Notorious reputation for like doing everything that is necessary to make a company work really well. Supply chain, negotiating prices, making sure that everything is delivered on time and as promised. But also has some big ideas himself. And under his leadership Apple's like tripled. I think more than tripled in value. And they've had some super successful launches. Now you might be thinking, but Chris, under Tim's leadership we had this thing called the Apple Vision Pro and that thing sucked or it didn't do well. It's a commercial flop. And I would say look at how many different projects Steve Jobs initiated that did not work. See, we only remember people for their success if they have them, not for their failures. So Steve Jobs came up with the 20th anniversary iMac. That thing did not sell well. He came up with a Mac Cube. That thing did not sell well. He came up with a lot of different products that did not do well until we can find enough ones that did do well. And so we forget about his failures. But go ahead, do yourself a favor now go look up every product that was a failure from Steve Jobs and it's probably much longer than Tim Cook's list of failures. So put that out there. Figure out which management style you more aligned towards and play to your strengths and make sure you have a good complement to your strengths. So you're probably wondering, Chris, you don't know me. I'm a unicorn. Of course I could do both. I'm good at both. And what should I do? Well, first of all, congratulations. Pat yourself on the back. You're probably the.001% of the people that exist. I find that it's very rarely true that our primary skill set is of one or the other. And then we default to the other one because no one else is doing it for us. And so we wind up developing that muscle. Think about this. Even if it's only by 1%, like you lean towards one or the other by 1%, what would your company do? How successful could you become? If you really hone in on that 51% that you're skewing towards or leaning towards, and magnify that and got someone else to do the other stuff, you would feel much freer, more in your zone of genius, and then you're able to do more of what you do in the special way that only you can do. So I often think we're just kidding ourselves and we're not really fooling anyone.
Title: Vision VS Execution in Leadership
Air Date: November 1, 2025
This episode, hosted by Chris Do, dives deep into the contrasting but critical roles of vision and execution in business leadership. Chris unpacks the archetypes of the visionary (often CEO) and the operator (often COO), examining their unique strengths, the rare but potent overlap between the two, and what leaders can do to maximize their effectiveness by playing to their core strengths. Using iconic figures like Steve Jobs and Tim Cook as case studies, Chris challenges listeners to honestly assess their own tendencies and assemble teams that align with their dominant style.
Visionary/CEO-Type:
Quote:
“They're usually ADHD, they’re high level thinkers, the 30,000 foot view from a plane, and they’re not quite really good at detailed stuff.” – Chris Do (00:25)
Operator/COO-Type:
Quote:
“They’re really good at optimizing and running meetings and making sure things hit on a spreadsheet. They're needed because otherwise work starts to fall through the cracks.” – Chris Do (00:40)
Acknowledges that a rare few possess genuinely strong abilities in both vision and execution.
Steve Jobs Example:
Quote:
“Steve also had the ability to say, you know what, I don’t like the way our Apple stores look and he’s going to fly out to Italy and pick the exact block of marble that they’re going to use and cut and put in the store.” – Chris Do (01:34)
Emphasizes the importance of honest self-reflection regarding which archetype leaders gravitate toward.
Chris admits he’s naturally a visionary, not an operator.
Quote:
“I for one am not the latter of the two. I don't like reading contracts. I don't want to follow up with anything. I want to just have the ideas and then have people say, okay, we understand the big idea conceptually. Let's go and marshal the forces and get things together so that your vision can be executed.” – Chris Do (02:25)
Addresses the temptation to believe one can be equally excellent at both vision and execution.
Encourages leveraging one’s primary skillset and hiring or teaming with complementary strengths.
Quote:
“You’re probably the .001% of the people that exist… I find that it’s very rarely true that our primary skill set is of one or the other, and then we default to the other one because no one else is doing it for us… So we wind up developing that muscle.” – Chris Do (04:08)
Urges listeners to focus on their “zone of genius” rather than spread themselves thin.
Quote:
“If you really hone in on that 51% that you’re skewing towards or leaning towards, and magnify that and got someone else to do the other stuff, you would feel much freer, more in your zone of genius…” – Chris Do (04:38)
Steve Jobs:
Quote:
“We only remember people for their success if they have them, not for their failures. So Steve Jobs came up with the 20th anniversary iMac. That thing did not sell well… Until we can find enough ones that did do well.” – Chris Do (03:10)
Tim Cook:
Quote:
“Under Tim Cook’s guidance and leadership as the CEO. Notorious reputation for like doing everything that is necessary to make a company work really well… But also has some big ideas himself.” – Chris Do (02:55)
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 00:25 | Chris Do | “They're usually ADHD, they’re high level thinkers, the 30,000 foot view from a plane, and they’re not quite really good at detailed stuff.” | | 00:40 | Chris Do | "They’re really good at optimizing and running meetings and making sure things hit on a spreadsheet. They're needed because otherwise work starts to fall through the cracks.” | | 01:34 | Chris Do | “Steve also had the ability to say, you know what, I don’t like the way our Apple stores look and he’s going to fly out to Italy and pick the exact block of marble that they’re going to use and cut and put in the store.” | | 02:25 | Chris Do | “I for one am not the latter of the two. I don't like reading contracts. I don't want to follow up with anything. I want to just have the ideas and then have people say, okay, we understand the big idea conceptually. Let's go and marshal the forces and get things together so that your vision can be executed.” | | 03:10 | Chris Do | “We only remember people for their success if they have them, not for their failures. So Steve Jobs came up with the 20th anniversary iMac. That thing did not sell well… Until we can find enough ones that did do well.” | | 04:08 | Chris Do | “You’re probably the .001% of the people that exist… I find that it’s very rarely true that our primary skill set is of one or the other, and then we default to the other one because no one else is doing it for us… So we wind up developing that muscle.” | | 04:38 | Chris Do | “If you really hone in on that 51% that you’re skewing towards or leaning towards, and magnify that and got someone else to do the other stuff, you would feel much freer, more in your zone of genius…” |