Obviously, you know the end of the story because he did get the investment that he needed.

Now I want you to imagine the same story with him coming in with a finished prototype, that is, something that looked more like an iPhone.

“First we would press the buttons here, and, then we would press the buttons here, and then we would show this,” the inventor might say.  Not a block of wood, but a finished prototype. I can only imagine the discussions which would have then transpired among his investors. “I think the case should be black.” “I think the front should be plastic, not glass.” “I don’t think that’s the right interface you need.” “I don’t think that –“.

It would have been about the details of the prototype rather than the concept of the invention. Bringing a rough prototype to a group is hard for some leaders. Some leaders are preconditioned to continually put their ideas into refinement, continual refinement until when those ideas emerge they’re almost in concrete. And they wonder why they don’t have more buy in from the stakeholders?

Great leaders have grown in their security that they can bring out an unfinished prototype.  Consequently, people can get excited about the concept and can contribute their own DNA to the finished prototype or to the finished product.

Great leaders have learned over time to bring their ideas out, to bring their concepts out, to bring their visions out before they’re fully cooked. That enables everyone to get involved and the weight of implementation doesn’t fall only on the shoulders of the leader.

In the final analysis, that becomes quite a load to carry.