We’ve often heard individuals share at length, droning on and on and on, about what they would like to see happen and yet those items never come to fruition. They never truly see the light of day and we never see those items being executed. Before long, those who are following such a leader begin to take that leader less and less seriously. When the leader stands up and boldly shares about a vision but there is never any true follow through, everyone around the table begins to slowly put the car into neutral and just coast along knowing that in all reality this new initiative will probably come to nothing because this individual is all talk and little execution.

I want to be an individual who is long on vision AND high on execution. I have been in institutions and been a part of organizations where the entire leadership team was long on vision and low on execution. That is not a motivating factor for those you lead. They want to spend their one and only life accomplishing something. They don’t want to spend their life listening to pie in the sky ideas that never come to pass. There is a difference between those who say and those who do. Truly, you can differentiate those individuals very quickly. Is something getting done or is it all talk?

Don’t be an individual who simply shares an idea and seeks to get people excited without having capacity to pull it off. That is the equivalent of crying wolf and that is the equivalent of being a leader unto whom no one will take seriously.

Another great axiom would be “promise little and produce much.” Don’t come out with fantastic sounding ideas but no plan to execute them. It is a painful experience and one that exhausts those whom you lead. It would be much better if you would share nothing and do nothing than share but have no results.

Be an individual who does what they say they will do. Think about the individual who plans to build a great structure and gets one-third of the way through and it sits unconstructed for the next 10 years. Jesus remarks about an individual who did that and He warns us to count the cost before we build.

There is a difference between those who say and those who do. The difference is simple. What gets done.