Execution Excellence

2The Evolving Role of StrategyIs Strategy Dead?

I'm not a strategy guru. Neither am I a professor with a PhD. All I am is a simple practitioner of strategy, who has spent 30 years helping clients execute strategy globally in places you wouldn't want to go. For the consultants who complain about travelling to Chicago in the winter, how about trying to execute strategy in remote areas of India, China, or Pakistan, or better yet in Tbilisi, Georgia, with Russian tank turrets only a few miles away. For 30 years I have crisscrossed the globe helping clients execute strategy, and I have a big secret to share with you today. Actually, it's the elephant in the room: It's all about execution and making strategy work! It's not about the formulation.

So, is strategy dead? Not really. Remember, I said it's about making strategy work. To execute a strategy, one obviously needs a strategy in the first place. However the one thing I will say is that strategy is overrated. What's the point of having a strategy that can't be executed? You may know the old adage, “Don't fight a battle that you can't win.” I like to apply it to my work by saying, “Don't call something a strategy if you can't execute it.” A non-executable strategy is meant for your bookshelf; maybe with all the other theoretical consultant reports you may have collected over the years.

Blue-Sky Strategy

There are plenty of words you can use to make basic things sound very interesting. Take for example words like blue sky or