The more I play in the sport of business, the more I realize that these 2 variables make all the difference on who wins and who doesn’t.
Quality of Judgement: clarity of thought, sharp decision making, raw intelligence
Intensity of Execution: relentless action, getting things done, raw hustle
I’ve met people who have one of the 2. They’re almost worse than those who have neither, because they deceive you into thinking they’re somewhat good, and you keep playing with them for too long in hopes of them fixing the other element.
Someone with high Quality of Judgement but low Intensity of Execution is a philosopher. You enjoy talking to them for hours. Every time you catch up with them, you remember how smart they are, and leave wanting to give them another chance. But they fail you again and again, because they’re not putting in the work to action their beautiful ideas. They almost feel like “execution” is dirty work that prevents them from doing more thinking.
On the other hand, someone with high Intensity of Execution but low Quality of Judgement shut you up with their relentless work ethic. They make you feel like you don’t work hard enough. They hustle so hard nobody dares question them. They’re like a martyr of the business; sacrificing sleep and health in the pursuit of more execution. You’re in awe seeing them work, but every time the results come in, you realize that they’re not rowing in the right direction. They’re so busy working that they don’t have time to think.
Neither of these are winners. It all goes back to the concept of the “Tension of Opposites”. You need a bit of both. Sometimes you need more thinking than action, but once you find something worth actioning, you must shift gears into more action than thinking.
Rare are those who can balance both. The wise ones would figure out what they’re stronger at, and complement their weaknesses with people on their team who are stronger at what they lack or don’t enjoy.
If you’re hiring a leader, make sure they have both. Much easier said than done.
3 Comments on “Quality of Judgement and Intensity of Execution”
I think what it may be attributed is “purpose driven leaders”. Thinking consumes more energy sometimes that relentless action, often leaders misattribute that to not working hard enough, it can also be perfectionism that holds them back.
wisdom is a product of experience, and experience is a product of action, and the creative process that leads to purposeful action is a chaotic one, it required discipline and persistence. so the conclusion is to look for disciplined purpose driven leader who have earned their stripes and have the scars to show for it.
So true, but for some people they like to think on they way, instead of shaping the perfect idea, forecasting all the problems..
They just deal with it whenever it knocks on their door, wouldn’t say it’s the most efficient way but that’s just their style of doing things, like I believe the ratio should be something like 8:2 because action is what you need most of the time.
Honestly I’d take a do-er on a thinker every time.
That’s spot on. I see this all the time managing a team of 160 employees. You hit the nail exactly.
I like this style of writing, simple, direct, and organized.