Check out this tweet from @exectweets (I believe originally from Tom Stewart):

CEO paralysis caused by trying to look simultaneously through a microscope at every cost & a telescope at the future

It was too long to re-tweet effectively without having to edit it, so I decided to write a blog post instead.

To say what exactly? Simple this:

Between the telescope and the microscope which wins?

I’ve been told a few times, “The role of CEO is to keep the lights on.” That puts us squarely in the world of microscopes. But on the flip side — is a business with its lights on but no potential for massive scale really worth keeping around? A lot of businesses get to survivability but struggle to go beyond that. And oftentimes going beyond simple survivability (which in and of itself isn’t really “simple”) means gut-checks, innovation, tough ass decisions and brain power. That throws us back into the world of telescopes.

What are you looking through right now? A microscope or a telescope? Or both? Are you paralyzed?