HBR Guide to Executing Your Strategy

CHAPTER 2

What Is Execution, Exactly?

by Ken Favaro

It is striking how much confusion there is between strategy and execution. Is “strategy” a matter of making choices about where we want to go or want to become, where we play, and how we win, of setting goals and actions, about how we create and capture economic value over time? Does it include creating solutions to unforeseen problems and running with unexpected opportunities? Is “getting things done” what we mean by execution? Do you “execute” or “implement” a strategy? And can you separate these from strategy formation? Where does strategy end, execution begin, and implementation fit in?

For strategy wonks like me, thinking about the definitions of these ideas provides endless fascination. ...