You have enough ideas to destroy your company

I used to be an idea gangster. Every week I'd roll up on my team and do drive-bys with a new idea.

A new marketing idea to boost sales. A new platform to manage projects. Or a new content system. They were good ideas. Things that would actually move the business forward.

So I'd get fired up and call the team together. "Alright, let's do this." And because I'm good at selling things, because I was passionate, and because they really were good ideas, the team would buy in.

"Yeah, Ray. That makes sense. Let's go."

But here's the problem: We never got enough traction on any one idea to execute properly.

By the time we started moving on one idea, I'd come in with another. Not necessarily in conflict with the first one, but there's only so many resources to go around. And every new idea meant diluting focus, energy, and execution.

Over time, the team got exhausted. They stopped getting excited about my ideas—no matter how good they were. They'd think, "Here we go again."

And worse, they never got to see their work fully implemented.

They'd get pumped about executing something, and a week later I'd pivot. So all that effort? Wasted. No fruit. No results. Just frustration.

Then my COO leveled with me.

We sat down, and he was blunt:

I initially told myself, "We've gotta figure it out. Move fast and break things."

But I eventually realized... he was absolutely right.

If you want any idea to reach its full potential—to see that beautiful vision fully executed—you have to give it time to be implemented, executed, and optimized.

Every new strategy, every new plan follows an exponential curve.

It's harder than you expect to get started. You've got to figure things out and tackle unexpected challenges.

Then, you're rarely going to execute really well right out of the gates. It takes time to get good.

And with sufficient time, the curve bends and you start to see real results.

But those of us who are idea factories don't fully appreciate this cycle and unload ideas on the business at a rate that ensures abandonment and half-assed execution on otherwise really valuable opportunities.

No bueno.

Early in Amazon's history, Jeff Wilke—a manufacturing expert—came to Jeff Bezos with a similar observation:

Here’s the full clip of Bezos sharing this:

Bezos admitted it wasn't obvious to him at the time. But once he heard it, he started prioritizing ideas better and holding them back until the organization was ready.

Having learned this lesson firsthand, here's what I've found to work best:

First, I accepted that there were always going to be more good ideas than there was capacity to execute.

So I started keeping an Apple note—an idea bank. Every idea goes there first. If it's still percolating days or weeks later, I bring it to my dedicated filter person. A strong "number 2" who's capable of saying "no" or "not yet" is critical.

That simple system has kept me from injecting my ADHD into the business and creating organizational habits that kill execution.

The ideas you're excited about? The ones you're proud of? If you're releasing them faster than your team can implement them, you're creating bottlenecks.

You're ensuring none of those ideas see the light of day. And the impact on your team is profound—low morale, frustration, exhaustion, and eroded credibility in your leadership.

Your ideas can be fuel for your company, or they can be the thing that kills it.

As founders, as CEOs, as leaders, we have a responsibility to release ideas at the rate our organizations can actually implement them. Otherwise, they're wasted.

So ask yourself:

Are you using your ideas as an asset? Or are they a liability?

Are they fueling creativity and execution? Or are they killing momentum?

If you're not getting the results you want despite having a ton of good ideas, chances are this is your bottleneck.

Hope this helps.

Adios,
Ray

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