I think this discussion is just semantics at this point. Any highly refined idea to the point of tangibility is indistinguishable from execution at that point.
I wish this post would have given an example of one of these great "ideas" that have clear intrinsic value, even just in retrospect. Like what? Facebook's "idea" of an exclusive social network? That seems more like execution than an idea to me, especially considering we all know the story that multiple teams tried it and one won out -- and the one that got the traction was the one people cared about.
It seems to me that ideas, at best, are negatively important. A bad idea can kill a company obviously, but a "good idea" (whatever that means) guarantees nothing. I'd much rather have an all star team working on a terrible idea, since the idea is the easiest thing to pivot from. You can't pivot from your own team and skills -- well, maybe you can fire everyone (including yourself?), but that's kind of precisely the point.
Exactly. To me, it seems that ideas are not really so distinct from their execution. Of course it's possible to have a 'great idea' without the ability to execute it, and it's possible to possess the ability without the idea, but both of these should be disregarded as uninteresting. Some might say then, that the 'interesting' part is the balance of idea and implementation, but I think that the significant ideas/projects are really only so because of the people that fostered them.
I wish this post would have given an example of one of these great "ideas" that have clear intrinsic value, even just in retrospect. Like what? Facebook's "idea" of an exclusive social network? That seems more like execution than an idea to me, especially considering we all know the story that multiple teams tried it and one won out -- and the one that got the traction was the one people cared about.
It seems to me that ideas, at best, are negatively important. A bad idea can kill a company obviously, but a "good idea" (whatever that means) guarantees nothing. I'd much rather have an all star team working on a terrible idea, since the idea is the easiest thing to pivot from. You can't pivot from your own team and skills -- well, maybe you can fire everyone (including yourself?), but that's kind of precisely the point.