Bill CanadyCEO & Founder, The 80/20 Institute · Be a Great CEO: Learn how to Fix it, Grow it, & Sell it.

Driving Success: Visionaries, Prophets, and Operators

5 Nov 2024 · 2 min

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2:17

In this solo presentation, Bill Canady, CEO of 80/20, explains the critical importance of having a clear vision for an organization, grounding his argument in the biblical proverb Proverbs 29:18 (“where there is no vision, the people perish”). He outlines the three essential roles within the 80/20‑driven PGOS (80/20 Operating System): the Visionary (CEO) who provides the vision, the Prophet who leads the execution and aligns the organization on strategy, and the Operators who implement the vision at the business‑unit level. Canady stresses that while external experts may introduce 80/20, true success requires internal, organic commitment from all three roles. Alignment and active participation of the triumvirate are presented as prerequisites for extraordinary results, with a call to integrate the system early in the growth curve. The talk concludes with an encouraging reminder that together, the organization will “fly.”

Chapters

Hello everyone. I'm Bill Canady, the 80/20 CEO. It's great to be with you today. I thought we'd take a little time and talk about what it means to have a vision. There's an old proverb that says, where there is no vision, the people perish. A proverb is an adage or a traditional saying that expresses a truth based on experiences and/or common sense. The Old Testament features a whole book of Proverbs, including this one, Proverbs 29:18-19, which begins with, where there is no vision, the people perish. In a business run on the 80/20-driven PGOS, the visionary provides the vision, the prophet leads the execution of deployment of that vision, and the operators act upon that vision and its deployment at the level of their individual business units. Now, while outside experts are typically consulted when introducing 80/20 to the organization, none of the commitment to 80/20-driven PGOS is imported. Sooner or later, all must be made internal, integral, and organic to the business. And based on the typical growth curve, sooner is far preferable to later. PGOS will deliver extraordinary results only if the complete triumvirate— the visionary or CEO, The profit and the operators is present, active, and aligned in the organization and thoroughly committed. The profit guides the execution of the vision throughout the organization, aligning the company on the strategy and applying 80/20. Without the visionary, however, there can be no vision, and without vision, there is no profit or profits. The operators take their direction from the visionary and apply it With the prophet's instruction. Now, without the committed and aligned operators, the work of the visionary and prophet come to nothing. They all have to be together on this, otherwise it will fail. It takes all 3. I want to thank you for taking time to learn more about PGOS, the 80/20 Operating System, and remember, together we will fly. Together we will fly.