Mental Visualization Before Execution

"The picture of what we’re planning to do is so vivid that, for the most part, the hardest work is over before the implementation begins."

"When I create a company, it starts in my mind. I want to have a very clear mental picture of what the business will look like out of the gate, then a year later, five years later, a decade later. Next, I gather a group of supersmart people to be the founding management team."

"Having great leadership talent on board is a huge milestone. I tell them, “Here’s my vision” and challenge everyone to poke holes in the plan and suggest ways to improve it. I listen carefully and gather lots of perspectives; then I retreat into solitude to reflect, visualize, and strategize."

"“The improvements I have made to mechanical construc- tions have resulted from such habits of observation. The drawingboard enables me to see in completed form whatever it is that I am about to make, but I often think that one should not put pencil to paper before having visualized what one wants to do from all angles. Over the years and after much experience in drawing quite novel and complicated things in pocket-books, I have come to work by a series of mental images; and the drawing board enables me to give effect to those images. A technician who cannot put down his ideas on paper is at a great disadvantage."

"Major Dorand, who was in charge of this Section, at Chalais-Meudon just outside Paris, greeted Bugatti cordially and explained the kind of aeroengine needed. Bugatti set to work at once, alone in his room at the Grand Hotel, to design all the parts of a new type of engine. His designs, which were completed without the help of a drawing office, had no need to be touched up when the engine was being made. Spe- cialists will realize the amount and the complexity of the"

"He had no fixed hours of work. With his natural creative talent he was able to visualize engineering drawings and indicate their essentials with a few strokes of the pencil; simplicity was the essence of his solutions to problems. Such were the characteristics of his methods of working."