Everyone Wants to Be a Lion… Until It’s Time to Do Lion S**t
You’ve probably seen the meme: A lion, face streaked with blood, eyes calm and alert. The text says:
“Everyone wants to be a lion… until it’s time to do lion shit.”
That line came into my head the other day while reading a LinkedIn post about Bain & Company’s Operating Model Bridge.
Bain’s framework is clean and smart—like most Bain content:
- Strategy alone isn’t enough.
- The operating model is the bridge.
- Execution tools bring it to life.
They’re not wrong. But they’re not telling the whole story.
The Operating Model Isn’t Just a Bridge. It’s a Battleground.
It’s not polished decks.
It’s not dotted-line diagrams.
It’s blood, sweat, politics, and accountability.
It’s lion stuff.
Where the Hard Stuff Lives
Operating models are where leaders make hard calls:
- You fire someone.
- You demote someone who can’t scale.
- You replace a VP who’s out of their depth.
- You shut down pet projects.
- You cut budgets that don’t support the mission.
You decide what gets funded, who gets empowered, and who doesn’t.
Most Leaders Flinch Here
They say they want structure—until structure means telling someone they’re no longer the right fit. They draw swim lanes—then ignore them when politics show up. They assign ownership—but undercut it when they don’t like the outcome. That’s not an operating model. That’s a performance.
You Don’t Scale Strategy With Slides
The real bridge between vision and execution is built in hard choices. You can’t avoid the mess. You have to step in it. Own it. Lead through it.
Final Thought: Strategy Without Grit Is Just a Deck
Everyone loves a strategy session. Everyone loves the org chart update. Everyone loves being part of “the vision.” The leaders who make it real--they’re the ones who do the lion shit. Because that’s where the results live.