The Question
Why We Love It
This is a great question for helping you make a decision and move forward.
Sometimes you play the roles of both visionary and operator. In that case, your inner operator may get bogged down in all of the details and prevent your inner visionary from making the right decision.
This question creates distance between strategy and operations. It gives you space to look at things purely from a strategic, visionary point of view and make the best choice possible for the greater picture.
Source
In the 1996 management book, Only The Paranoid Survive, Andy Grove tells the story of how he and Gordon Moore committed to making a massive change in Intel's strategy:
I turned back to Gordon and I asked, “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what do you think he would do?” Gordon answered without hesitation, “He would get us out of memories.” I stared at him, numb, then said, “Why shouldn’t you and I walk out the door, come back and do it ourselves?”
Bio
Andrew (Andy) Grove was the third employee and eventual third CEO of Intel.
As a result of his work at Intel, along with his books and professional articles, Andy Grove had a massive influence on the electronics manufacturing industries worldwide. He has been called the "guy who drove the growth phase" of Silicon Valley.
In 1997, Time magazine chose him as "Man of the Year", for being "the person most responsible for the amazing growth in the power and the innovative potential of microchips." One source notes that by his accomplishments at Intel alone, he "merits a place alongside the great business leaders of the 20th century."