Daydreaming. In a world requiring Practical Innovation.

Why Both Are Important, But Results Matter Most in Corporate America.

Innovation. It’s the lifeblood of progress, the catalyst of change, and for businesses, the engine that drives sustainable growth. We often romanticize innovation as the “eureka” moments that shift our perspective of what’s possible, as the spark that brings us bold new ideas of flying cars or hyperloops (and you should read Marylene Delbourg-Delphis book “Beyond Eureka!: The Rocky Roads to Innovating” for a refresher). Indeed, these visions are inspiring, but in a corporate setting—or any setting that demands accountability—dreaming of the future must be balanced with practical steps that yield tangible results.

Let’s explore the fine line between “practical innovation”—long-term vision guided by short-term milestones—and visions of the future that remain stuck in the clouds. Both have value in shaping our reality, but it’s the ability to execute, track, and deliver incremental impact that sets true innovators apart from merely enthusiastic dreamers. We’ll also discuss anecdotes from various companies and highlight insights from my book The Delivery Man, which has resonated deeply with corporate innovators. Early in my career, I was a dreamer not realizing thinking about the future 10 years down the road and without a clear path to sustainable revenues along the way was not the best way to deliver great products or technologies. To the credit of PayPal, I learnt during my time there the concept of practical innovation, dreaming far off of the “what if”s while grounded it into the “how to”s.

Why We Need Both Dreaming and Doing

The Power of the Dream

Daring to dream is at the heart of all extraordinary accomplishments. Think of monumental breakthroughs—humanity landing on the moon, the birth of the internet, or the creation of smartphones. Each of these breakthroughs started with an idea that seemed fantastical at the time. Inventors like the Wright brothers, or cuckoo innovators (in both sense, positive and negative) like Elon Musk, Thomas Edison, or the countless unsung heroes who spent nights in their garages tinkering, all had visions that others dismissed as unachievable.

That initial dream sparks passion, drives curiosity, and inspires individuals and teams to move forward—even when the odds are stacked against them. In corporate environments, visionaries can rally employees around a “why” that transcends immediate profit. Dreaming of the future injects excitement, encourages creative thinking, and fosters an environment that can attract top talent who want to be part of something bigger.

The Need for Realistic Grounding

However, there’s a flip side to the visionary coin. While it’s wonderful to imagine a futuristic utopia, if an idea is so removed from reality that there is no tangible roadmap to get from “here” to “there,” it often never gets off the ground. In business, this dichotomy can become painfully clear when great ideas fall short due to lack of execution, resources, or market conditions. And naysayers will be prompt to tag such ideas as a cost center needed to be cut.

Fantasizing without measured goals can stall progress, resulting in wasted resources, missed opportunities, and frustrated teams. When all you have is a dream with no tangible milestones, you might see excitement at first—but as soon as the excitement fades and real work needs to be done, the project can disintegrate. This is why companies, particularly those with shareholders or constrained budgets, place such a high value on practical innovation.

Practical Innovation: Marrying Long-Term Vision with Short-Term Milestones

Practical innovation is about walking that tightrope between lofty imagination and actual progress. It’s having the audacity to aim for a significant, long-term vision while grounding each step with tangible milestones and metrics. While daydreamers may get bogged down with perpetual brainstorming and no clear path forward, practical innovators ask:

1. What is the ultimate goal or vision?

For example, “We want to reduce carbon emissions in our supply chain by 50% within five years” or “We want to develop a technology that cuts data-processing time in half.”

2. How do we measure progress in increments?

“By the end of Q2, we will have completed our feasibility study,” or “Within six months, we will launch a prototype to test with early adopters.”

3. Where do we need to iterate or pivot?

In the process of reaching the long-term goal, there must be moments of reflection and analysis. If something isn’t working, how can we adjust?

By having structured short-term milestones, even if each step is small, teams see tangible wins that keep them motivated and committed. Stakeholders also see that resources are being used judiciously, and that helps maintain trust and support for the bigger vision.

Anecdotes from the Trenches

Apple’s Iterative Approach to the iPhone

When Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007, people saw it as magical—a leap in innovation that made every other phone look prehistoric. But Apple didn’t just conjure the iPhone out of thin air. The company built upon years of iPod design, refining touch screens, integrating software and hardware, and iterating relentlessly. While Apple’s vision was arguably fantastical at first (a pocket computer that’s also your phone, music player, and internet browser), they pieced the process together step by step.

In the end, Apple created a product that wasn’t only visionary—it was deliverable. Moreover, Apple has continued to implement incremental improvements with each version of the iPhone. That’s practical innovation at work: have a bold, future-defining goal, but break it down into versions that are achievable within the product lifecycle. While AI may have invigorated a second life into the iPhone, it is also time for Apple to release something as bold and impactful as the “Jesus phone”.

SpaceX and the Grasshopper

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is famous for its grandiose dream of making humanity a multiplanetary species. Yet, beneath this giant aspiration lies an approach grounded in engineering iteration. One early prototype, the “Grasshopper,” was literally a test rig for vertical takeoff and landing. It looked rudimentary compared to the final shiny rockets we see today, but it was a crucial step in developing the Falcon 9’s landing capabilities.

By starting small and showing incremental progress, SpaceX built confidence, honed engineering techniques, and was eventually able to land their rockets routinely. Without these practical, measured steps (and plenty of failures along the way), the dream of landing rockets like science fiction would have remained just a daydream.

Netflix and Incremental Transformation

Netflix began as a DVD-by-mail service. Many probably didn’t see the connection between mail-order DVD rentals and a streaming revolution in entertainment. But Reed Hastings had a vision to leverage emerging internet capabilities to revolutionize how people consume content. Rather than leaping all at once, Netflix gradually tested streaming, introduced it alongside the DVD service, and iterated on licensing deals, original content, and user experience.

The company’s trajectory, from a mail-based business model to a globally recognized content powerhouse, underscores how a lofty aim to “stream content directly to consumers” was turned into reality through practical steps, data-driven milestones, and relentless experimentation.

Insights from “The Delivery Man”

Well, you are on the Delivery Man substack channel after all so let’s do some shameless self-grandiosing analysis. In The Delivery Man, I tried to provide a blueprint for innovators that recognizes the importance of delivering real, measurable value—not just conceptual blue-sky thinking. The book offers practical takeaways for professionals looking to drive innovation within their organizations, highlighting the careful balance of risk-taking and process.

It emphasizes the underlying principle that innovation is truly validated when it’s delivered. If you can’t translate your vision into something that customers, partners, or stakeholders can see, touch, and use—even in a minimal or prototype form—then you are still in the brainstorming stage. That’s not inherently bad, but it’s not enough to move the needle on corporate objectives. I always encourage entrepreneurs to go for at least a mock-up (Figma or others) because it forces to work on the flows and framework of the product essentials. And then of course, you still need a market fit.

Moreover, the recurring theme in The Delivery Man is that innovation is everyone’s responsibility, from engineers to product managers to C-suite leaders. Leaders must empower their teams to dream big but also hold them accountable to deliver. And they need to clearly communicate how short-term progress leads to eventual long-term breakthroughs.

Why Companies Expect Practical Innovation

1. Return on Investment (ROI):

Corporations, especially those publicly traded, have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. While visionary ideals can attract hype, budgets and forecasts depend on measurable returns.

2. Talent Retention and Morale:

Employees want to feel that their hard work is contributing to something meaningful and tangible. Seeing progress—even if it’s small steps—boosts morale. Perpetual dreaming with no concrete outcomes often leads to frustration and attrition.

3. Competitive Edge:

Markets move quickly. If you’re perpetually stuck in “concept mode,” a competitor may beat you to market. Short-term wins feed into longer-term strategies that keep a company relevant and ahead of the competition.

4. Corporate Governance and Accountability:

Leadership teams must continually justify investments to boards of directors and key stakeholders. Having short-term milestones and proven traction is critical when requesting additional resources or explaining vision-driven projects.

5. Market Validation:

Users or customers shape your final product. Testing prototypes or minimal viable products (MVPs) in the real world offers vital feedback. This real-world data helps refine your direction and validate (or invalidate) hypotheses. Dreaming alone can’t give you that feedback—delivery does.

Balancing Vision with Execution: Best Practices

1. Set Clear Goals and Success Metrics

Whether your grand plan is to transform your industry or just to improve one product line, define what success looks like at each stage. For instance, “By month three, we want 1,000 beta testers using our prototype,” or “By Q2, we aim for a 10% reduction in product returns.” These milestones keep teams aligned and motivated.

2. Implement an Agile Framework or Similar. But aims for Continuous Delivery.

Many successful innovators use an Agile or iterative approach, breaking big projects into sprints. Each sprint (usually two to four weeks) ends with a deliverable—whether that’s a new feature, a bug fix, or user feedback analysis. This method ensures consistent progress and prevents the project from slipping into an unending conceptual phase.

3. Encourage a Culture of Experimentation

Companies like Google and Amazon famously nurture a culture where experimentation is welcomed, provided that the results feed back into better products or insights. When teams feel safe to propose ideas and test them quickly (fail fast, learn faster), innovation thrives. However, there must also be guardrails to ensure that resources are not burned without accountability.

4. Celebrate Milestones

When you reach a short-term milestone, celebrate it. This serves as a morale boost and an opportunity to communicate to the wider organization how these incremental steps are pushing the boundaries toward the final vision. People like to see traction and to celebrate small victories along the way.

5. Keep Stakeholders Informed

Don’t assume your executive team or partners automatically “get” the eventual payoff of your project. Regularly update them with metrics, demonstration videos, or pilot results. If they see consistent progress, they are more likely to continue supporting the initiative. Transparency helps build trust and aligns everyone behind the vision.

6. Continuously Reassess and Adapt

Innovation doesn’t follow a straight line. Along the way, you will find new challenges and unexpected breakthroughs. Use data and feedback to reassess your approach periodically. Adjust your goals or roadmap if necessary. Remember, being agile means staying flexible and open to pivoting when the market demands it.

Dream Big, But Deliver Bigger

There is undeniable value in envisioning a future that’s bigger, bolder, and beyond what we currently think possible. That spark of imagination drives us to explore, discover, and invent. But in the confines of a company or a startup environment—where time, money, and resources are limited—the ability to deliver practical innovation consistently sets successful visionaries apart from perpetual dreamers.

In The Delivery Man, my goal was to illustrate why delivering results should be the gold standard for innovation. It was in the title “Turning ideas into products”. It’s not enough to have a great idea or even dozens of them. What matters most is being able to rally resources, navigate the reality of constraints, and produce tangible outcomes that move the needle in your organization or market.

Learn from Apple’s methodical development cycles, SpaceX’s incremental testing approach, Netflix’s managed transformation, and countless other examples where a grand vision was carefully broken down into deliverable steps. As you chart your course, remember that dreaming without doing is like a rocket without fuel—bound to remain earthbound. Practical innovation, with its well-structured milestones and relentless focus on incremental impact, is the rocket engine that can turn your lofty dreams into a soaring reality.

So, go ahead—dream. Dare to imagine a revolutionary product or a future that will change how we live. But then, pick up your toolkit, set those realistic targets, iterate, and deliver. Because when you do, you’ll find that the journey is not only thrilling but the impact you can make is far more substantial than you ever dreamed.