Innovate and execution
I was listening to Sheryl Sandberg’s talk at the Entrepreneur’s corner at Stanford. She’s super smart and it’s a good talk. With a background in international aid and development in the Clinton White house, Sales and Ops at Google and now COO of Facebook – nuff said. Go listen to the podcast / watch the video.
There was a question from the crowd where someone had heard someone from Cisco ask and answer the question “If you’re choosing between innovation and execution which do you pick? Execution.” The person in the crowd asked for Sheryl’s thoughts. She said she rejects the question and wants both (like when her four year old says “I don’t want to choose between ice cream and cake I want both”).
My take is that you want innovation when it’s time to innovate and execution when it’s time to execute. When we’re in a recession, when we’re struggling we need some serious innovation. When you’re starting a brand new company you need to be innovative, when you’re stagnating you need to innovate. When you’ve got the business model firing and things are working then execute like crazy.
