Merril Dubrow: My name is Merril Dubrow, CEO of M/A/R/C research and a 35-plus-year veteran of the insights community, and the host of our podcast, On the M/A/R/C. Welcome to another Merrill-ISM segment. Success isn't about an idea, but rather this. There are plenty of great ideas and they don't go anywhere, they basically fall by the wayside. Perhaps the person in charge was the wrong person to lead the initiative. Who knows? Success isn't about an idea, it's actually about the next two steps. Are you ready? Wait for it. And I would suggest these two next steps are just if not more important. Here they are, success is about an idea, followed by a plan, followed by an execution of that plan. I love when people say to me, I'm going to do this, or I'm going to do that, and I ask them quickly, how do they expect to do that, or achieve that goal? Or I say to them, what's the plan to make it happen? Oh Merrill, oh, I've got a plan. OK, what's the plan? And what I hear next, most of the time, is not much of anything. They talk at a high level but say very little. Successful people who have an idea, let me let you in on a little secret: they quickly develop a plan to achieve the goal and they execute on that plan. Pure and simple. Is it easy? No, it isn't. But an idea without a plan and execution is worthless in my book. What are your thoughts? Do you agree with me? Can you think of many great ideas or some great ideas that didn't go anywhere because the execution was so poor? I know I can. My name is Merrill Dubrow, thanks for listening to today's podcast and Merril-ISM. Success isn't about an idea, but rather this. I look forward to hearing from you, stay well, stay safe, and please, please stay in touch.