Gary Ong | September 9th, 2021

For everything that we do, we need two components for success: vision and execution. This is true in business as it is true in life. Put more simply, to get anything done, we have to first decide and then to act.

As a founder of a startup, I am always asked for my vision of the world, my vision for the company, and my vision for myself. “Do you see Celadyne as a billion dollar company,” one might ask. “Do you see yourself as CEO in the long run?” I get uncomfortable answering these question. As a scientist turned entrepreneur, my instinct tilts towards an objective assessment of what is rather than a wish for what could be. So, telling someone a vision can feel like wishful thinking. It can feel like an entitled demand upon the world, one that has yet to be proven or earned.

But vision isn’t a passive demand upon the world, and it isn’t wishful thinking. Rather, it is our active contract with the world and ourselves: we want a particular version of the world realized, and in return, we willingly trade our time, resources and will for it. Vision is simply the direct outcome of decision. Execution is the direct outcome of action. We decide and then we act. That is the only way anything gets accomplished.