>> many are sick of people that don't value the ability to execute
>> business isn't just about "execution" of an idea into a product
The ability to execute is not limited to engineering. It's also applicable to the business side (ability to successfully secure funding, find product market fit, create a marketing and pricing strategy that works, etc).
The other thing is that you cannot neatly separate ideas and execution. As you break a high level problem into its components, there are ideas at every lower level that will allow you to succeed. A high level idea cannot succeed without the supporting lower level ideas (strategies and tactics) in a variety of disciplines (marketing, product, engineering, etc). If we take Facebook as an example: many people at several universities had the broad idea, but only one set of people also had the lower level strategies and tactics to turn that idea into a multi-billion dollar company.
My take on this: good high level ideas are worthless without the appropriate low level supporting ideas.
This. ^^^ Its all about the performance envelope. And who actually knows it.
Ideas are both general "ideas" (a product, or about a theory, or strategy) as well as "ideas" are about problem solving (practical, tactical, etc). A top "technical" guy in any field will be an idea guy, strictly because he is a problem solver that can abstract his experience back into higher-level principles.
Example: Programming requires creative problem solving. Likewise, you'd be amazed at how much "creativity" happens in accounting, tax, and legal professions. ALthough much of this is of the practical variety ("artisanal") rather than of the blue sky ("arty").
LIkewise, a top "Idea" guy in any field with have both levels of abstraction covered. I think somebody once made the remark that if you dream it but can't ship it, its more like a hallucination than an actual idea. So maybe the bad ones are not the "idea guys" but "the hallucinators". And in that case, yes, their value is certainly questionable. =D
>> business isn't just about "execution" of an idea into a product
The ability to execute is not limited to engineering. It's also applicable to the business side (ability to successfully secure funding, find product market fit, create a marketing and pricing strategy that works, etc).
The other thing is that you cannot neatly separate ideas and execution. As you break a high level problem into its components, there are ideas at every lower level that will allow you to succeed. A high level idea cannot succeed without the supporting lower level ideas (strategies and tactics) in a variety of disciplines (marketing, product, engineering, etc). If we take Facebook as an example: many people at several universities had the broad idea, but only one set of people also had the lower level strategies and tactics to turn that idea into a multi-billion dollar company.
My take on this: good high level ideas are worthless without the appropriate low level supporting ideas.