This reminds me of an example used by Stephen Covey to illustrate the principle of "begin with the end in mind"[1]: Many people climb the ladder of success o

This reminds me of an example used by Stephen Covey to illustrate the principle of "begin with the end in mind"[1]: Many people climb the ladder of success only to find the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. Like you say, it's not an either/or question, you need both. That said, I believe that execution is the more difficult of the two in most circumstances. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effe...