A founder (or strong leader) habitually has a clear vision of where they want to be tomorrow that is not obvious from looking at the company today. The process

A founder (or strong leader) habitually has a clear vision of where they want to be tomorrow that is not obvious from looking at the company today. The process of fulfilling that vision requires open exploration, a willingness to go places along the way they didn’t expect, and to continue looking ahead. It isn’t constrained by current products, markets or customers. The memory of how the current company came from something seemingly much less remains fresh. It is much more of an idiosyncratic winding journey, but potentially more impactful, than iteratively looking for paths that bump numbers.