If talk got things done, humanity would already have colonies all over the solar system, and we'd probably be reaching for the stars. Instead, we all but gave up on manned spaceflight more than 40 years ago, and decided to send (relatively) cheap robotic probes to the planets instead. Not that they've been a waste; we've learned a lot. But our entire species is still living on one planet.

My point? Simply that with a few therapeutic exceptions, no amount of talking and planning matters if it's not coupled with firm, decisive action. Harold Geneen, legendary CEO and President of ITT, hit the nail on the head when he pointed out, "It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises, but only performance is reality." 

If Geneen had run the space program, we might very well have colonies on the moons of Jupiter by now, because Geneen was a go-getter. He grew ITT from a firm with a respectable $765 million in annual sales in 1961 to a $17 billion multinational conglomerate by 1970---a 22-fold increase in just nine years. Born in England, he immigrated to the U.S. as an infant with his parents and took the American Dream by the horns as a young man. He began his rise at Raytheon in the 1950s, making his mark as an innovator who gave his division leaders an unprecedented level of freedom, before revolutionizing ITT from 1959 until his retirement in 1977.