Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality

a deep desire and interest in a topic, (2) the ability to learn it, and (3) the capacity to enlist support. The deep desire and interest, Randal explains, prompts an intense and lasting engagement with the topic. When you couple this obsession for a topic with the ability to learn (through comprehension, mnemonics, or otherwise) and the involvement

award-winning American author E. L. Doctorow on what it is like to write a novel. “It’s like driving a car at night,” Doctorow proclaims. “You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

A. A. Milne once said, “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience—well, that comes from poor judgment.”

The best practice here is to develop a tolerance for momentary injustice and periods of ambiguity. Stay strong and stay calm as a situation settles itself over time and the clouds around any period of change start to dissipate. Your fortitude will yield greater respect and opportunity that will reward you over time.

Self-awareness is a critical skill in leadership, but it is deeply personal. It is not about our actions but about the emotions that trigger our actions.

Getting people excited about your idea, however, is just the first phase of sharing ownership. The second and much more challenging part is empowering team members to push the idea forward rather than micromanaging them every step of the way.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

As leaders, we must create rules and norms for the sake of efficiency rather than as a result of mistrust.

The ultimate goal is to empower employees to make their own decisions about when and where they work as long as mutually agreed-upon goals are achieved.