Planning is Easy. Doing is Hard.

One of my all-time favorite movies is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. If you've not seen it, there's a part where the two main characters have planned to rob a train, only to have those plans foiled by Mr. E. H. Harriman's all-star law enforcement taskforce, which then doggedly pursues them across mile after mile of rugged terrain. Butch and Sundance finally find themselves trapped on a high cliff, with only rocks and a raging river below. They certainly didn't plan for this, and as they argue over what to do, Butch argues they should jump—only to learn for the first time that Sundance can't swim. After a brief moment of shock, Butch laughs and attempts to laughingly reassure Sundance that he needn't worry because, the fall will probably kill him!

Poor planning or poor execution? Or both?

For several years I introduced the concept of strategic planning by asking students how many of them were "list people". Translated: how many of them made out lists of what needed to get done on any given day. Roughly half would raise their hands. I then asked how many of those who raised their hands would typically get their entire lists done by the end of the day. Crickets.

Most of us, at least to some degree, enjoy planning. It feels productive. It creates the illusion of progress. Planning engages our creativity and logic, gives us a sense of control, and allows us to imagine success even before we've earned it.

But plans alone don't change anything. Only execution does that.

In 2013, well-known leadership expert Ken Blanchard and his team surveyed almost 400 leaders regarding what happens to a typical initiative within their organization. The results were fascinating.

Let's start with the bad. Eight percent indicated their typical initiatives were poorly planned AND poorly executed. OK, that's a "fail," and it happens to the best of us occasionally.

Thirteen percent reported that their plans were typically poor, but they at least executed them successfully. They were getting at least part of the process right.

Here's what I found shocking each time I read the study. A large majority of the executives (74%) reported their typical initiatives resulted in a good plan that was poorly executed. That's three out of four concluding that their good plans typically didn't result in things getting done well.

Even sadder to someone who taught this stuff all decades—only FOUR PERCENT of initiatives resulted in both a good plan AND good execution. Any lingering doubts on why organizations underperform?

Think about your own experiences. Have you ever driven by a work-out facility in January of any given year? My observations have been that their parking lots are packed. I'd argue that each of those individuals planned (at least set a goal) that this would be the year they'd finally get it all together and get healthy. Eat right. Exercise regularly. All…the…things.

Drive by that same facility any other time from February to December, and most of their parking lots look rather inviting to a would-be visitor. Numerous open spaces. Bueller? Anyone? One study noted that almost 80% of New Year's resolutions are abandoned by February.

Most of us tend to overvalue planning because it's tidy, conceptual, and safe. Execution, on the other hand, is messy. It requires discipline, coordination, persistence, and accountability. Plans live on paper, but execution lives in motion.

Think of planning as akin to sitting down and drawing a map, while execution is the actual journey — with its traffic jams, flat tires, and wrong turns. Oh yeah and having to survive the interactions with countless other drivers and their less than creative sign language. Only if you can plan and execute effectively do you actually reach your destination.

In organizations and in life, success depends less on how well we plan and more on how consistently we follow through. The best strategies mean nothing without the courage to act and the endurance and discipline to keep acting after the initial excitement wears off.

In the end, the difference between a dream and a result is simple: one stayed on the page; the other made it into practice.

Thomas Edison is responsible for giving us the light bulb, the phonograph, and the movie camera. He was a world-class innovator who got stuff done. He was quoted as saying "Vision without execution is hallucination." And as someone who only got three to four hours of sleep a night, I'm guessing he may have also been an expert on hallucinations.

Excellence isn't found in the plan alone. It's revealed in the doing.

By the way, Butch and Sundance made it through their infamous fight or jump scenario, somehow floundering down-river to live for another day. Many businesses do the same with a bad plan they crafted or even a bad execution of that plan. But if you've seen the movie, the two's operational approach led to a subsequent Bolivian bank-robbing execution, which ended in just that.

In the end, it takes both planning AND execution, but the latter is where most of us fall short. It's a LOT harder.