Underrated skill for founders: Altitude shifting. People are often either good at high-level strategy or atomic-level execution, but rarely both. It's the ability to zoom out & paint the 5 yr vision, and then drop down into the weeds of day-to-day, & see how the two connect. Tweet added by Erik Torenberg @eriktorenberg

Erik Torenberg

4 years

Underrated skill for founders: Altitude shifting. People are often either good at high-level strategy or atomic-level execution, but rarely both. It's the ability to zoom out & paint the 5 yr vision, and then drop down into the weeds of day-to-day, & see how the two connect.

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Erik Torenberg

@eriktorenberg

4 years

h/t @brettberson

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Nikita Arora

@Nikita_Arora17

4 years

@eriktorenberg Very true. Any advice on how to become better at being both?

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Erik Torenberg

@eriktorenberg

4 years

@Nikita_Arora17 running a company (or a similar scope of work) is good training

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Jonathan Wegener

@jwegener

4 years

@eriktorenberg Yep, i think about this exact same thing a LOT.

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硅谷王川 Chuan

@Svwang1

4 years

@eriktorenberg It appears that @elonmusk is the best CEO capable of this kind of altitude shifting. People near him say he is a nano-manager, very hands on. On the other hand, his high-level long-term vision is unmatched by any other CEO out there.

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Drew Moxon

@moxon

4 years

@eriktorenberg Also important for many non-founders - anyone who wants to lead needs to develop the skill of elevating to look around, look forward, plot a course, inspire others, and dive back in.

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David Weisburd 🚀

@DWeisburd

4 years

@eriktorenberg 100% - also rare is someone who can think systematically and also be a hustler on the ground. Airbnb founders are exceptionally good at that.

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Joel Trammell

@TheAmericanCEO

4 years

@eriktorenberg Good description. I call this stage the “Product Manager CEO” as the founder is developing an initial product/service & trying to generate some revenue. The full-time CEO role starts at around 50 employees. Different skill set at that point, but some founders make the transition

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Allison Esposito Medina

@techladyallison

4 years

@eriktorenberg I feel like I do this every day and it’s the precise part of my job that makes me tired 😂

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Ben Casnocha

@bencasnocha

4 years

@eriktorenberg See:

Ben Casnocha

@bencasnocha

5 years

I really value people with the intellectual agility to "zoom" in and out, fluidly, in a live conversation. You can zoom into micro details, case studies, nits. Zoom back out to the big picture, re-visiting the overall argument. Then zoom back in for more in-the-weeds analysis.

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dilip

@dilipsrajan

4 years

@eriktorenberg Feel like this is also a critical skill for product managers

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Tai Rattigan

@XOptimiser

4 years

@eriktorenberg Zooming in and out effectively, and being patient with people who remain in one of the two states, is on of the most challenging parts of being an exec leader.

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Noah King

@digitalnoah

4 years

@eriktorenberg Agree. See: ‘Powers of Ten’ film by Charles and Ray Eames, circa 1968

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Joseph Jude

@jjude

4 years

@eriktorenberg A leader should be both a poet & a plumber. They should be able to set a vision, articulate it well, and productive in doing things.

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Ankur Warikoo

@warikoo

4 years

@eriktorenberg I call it the ZIZO ability (zoom in zoom out) It is incredibly hard and I have found no more than 3-4 in a decade that do it naturally with such finesse that it seems there are 2 of them! Such a super power!

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