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The Astronomer
Once, there was a brilliant astronomer who spent his nights observing the stars. He was so engrossed in his study of the celestial bodies millions of miles away that he paid little attention to the world right under his own feet. As he walked while gazing above, deeply immersed in his observations, he failed to notice a crag of a hole directly in his walking path. He took an unwitting step and disappeared into the hole, crashing at the bottom with a thud.
As he lay at the bottom of the hole, cursing his wounds, he realized the folly of his single-minded focus. Passersby who saw his plight mocked him, saying, "You spend your days gazing at the heavens, but you couldn't even see the ground beneath your feet!"
Moral of the Story: It's easy to miss the obvious things right in front of you if your focus is elsewhere.
The Astronomer: A Modern Fable
Several years ago, I knew a brilliant design strategist we'll call Maya. Maya had keen vision of how our customers could be delighted through an innovative application which hadn't yet been built. The customers wanted what she showed them, and her strategic design was very thorough even in its paper mock-up form. Executives were excited by the value it promised and signed off to have it built.
She brought the long term vision to the team and said "let's get started." The team didn't have a clue how to build this design. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and yet still her vision had not come to life. In fact, the team hadn't delivered anything of real value.
Maya began to fall into the hole of depression due to how things were going. She had seen the end state so clearly. "Why was the team having so much trouble getting there?!"
It wasn't until someone from the team gave her some candid feedback that she saw the error of her ways. "Your design focuses so much on many elements that none of us on the team are skilled enough to create" the developer stated. "Unless you're willing to wait a very long time, you'll need to let us get the value to the customers our way. It may not resemble your design much, but the value we deliver immediately will be the saving grace."
And from that day, Maya came to understand that a successful strategy requires more than just visionary thinking—it also demands a keen understanding of the team's capabilities and the implementation of short-term tactics to achieve tangible results. With this realization, Maya vowed to approach her future endeavors with a more balanced perspective, ensuring that her lofty visions were grounded in practical execution.
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