Executive Stands for Execution, by John Carrino

We are surrounded by great ideas that have remade or changed our way of life.  Thomas Edison brought light to the dark, vaccinations are available today for polio which ended many lives before scientist Jonas Salk discovered its vaccination and distributed to the world in 1955 and English scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web that sparked our modern day information revolution. 

Persistence is one of the most common traits in these modern day revolutionists.  One of Thomas Edison's teachers once said he was, "too stupid to learn anything."  He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive."  As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.  When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn't fail 1,000 times, the light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

Edison wanted to bring change.  He wanted there to be light when it was dark.  While persistence is a mandatory trait that allowed him to continue every time he failed to bring about this change, people often miss the third ability.  It's the ability to execute.  Change and persistence is the desire to see something succeed and execution is one's actions that allow one to succeed in my opinion.

While I highlight some of the World's most distinguished inventors, many of our everyday people possess great ideas.  Heck, I've even have a few of my own.  Many times, these ideas come and go through the minds of people.  Some draft an executive summary or go even further to design a business plan.  The ideas that never made it into tangible form, lacked the new inventors ability to execute at its most basic level. 

While I'm an attorney by training, one thing I pride myself more on than my legal skills, is being someone that has the ability to execute.  Think about it, the foundation for change to happen is the ability to execute on all levels at the time you need to execute. 

As a teenager I recall moving a pile of dirt on a weekend for low wage.  The pile had to be ten feet high.  At the end of the day, I was so happy.  The guy that hired me said to me why are you smiling, do you like this type of work?  And I said, not really.  That guy didn't get it, and we both went on with our lives.  I made a few dollars and he got what he wanted. But I got just a little bit more.  I realized something.

It was the element of change and that my work made an impact.  Granted, it effected virtually no one except the guy that needed the dirt moved, but at the age of 15, I knew what brought me happiness and it was results.   When I started at 9am, that dirt was in one place and when I ended my day, that dirt was in a different place.  That result was realized because I executed.

Now the want to change needs to first exist and the persistence to keep going, whether it's to get paid, or to make a difference needs to be there as well.  But when things actually happen and results are shown, is when we execute.  When I picked up that shovel, I started to execute regardless of the task or my motivations to make a few bucks.  What I didn't realize in the beginning of the day, was that the difference I made really satisfied me at the end of the day.  My result was shown. 

Fast forward 20 years, that same desire still exists as I'm sure it exists in many people with more important decisions to make then moving dirt.

Ideas that are designed from somebody's desire to see or make change, always hinge on that individuals ability to execute. If they don't execute, they're ideas never have impact and are never known to anyone. 

Our most well-known executives have one thing in common that make them successful.  They are executives that know how and when to execute.

So next time you have an idea, ask yourself, are you ready to execute on it?  The journey may be long and the desire to bring your idea to fruition will require persistence, but even more so, it will require execution.  And that ability to execute is what will make leaders great and inventors genius'

/ John Carrino /