I once saw a great interview with Quentin Tarantino on The Charlie Rose Show.
He told a story about a lunch that changed his life.
Quentin was having lunch with one of his hero directors — someone known for creating beautifully crafted films — and he asked him a question that had been bothering him:
"How do you get your vision onto the screen so perfectly?"
The director didn't hesitate.
"That's not your job."
Your job isn't to get the vision onto the screen.
Your job is to get the vision into the minds of the cinematographer, the lighting director, the set designers — the people who know how to create the mood, the environment, the feeling.
None of those things are your job.
Your job is to describe the vision.
Your job is to describe the vision.
Quentin said that realization changed everything for him. It allowed him to relax and lean fully into the one thing he was best at.
And the more I think about it, the more I realize how relevant that idea is right now.
We're living in a world where we have access to more capability, talent, tools, and resources than ever before. Almost anything we can imagine is now doable.
But that doesn't mean it's our job to do everything.
Our job is to get clear on the vision — and get really good at describing it.
There has never been a better time to be a visionary than right now. Honestly, it's almost overwhelming.
I'm still wrapping my mind around it.
A simple place to start is to spend some time just describing what you would do if anything you imagined was possible.
No execution required. No how-to needed.
Just clarity.