Six Sigma—The First 90 Days

5. Strategy: The Alignment of External Realities, Setting Measurable Goals, and Internal Actions

With Mike Brennan

Why even bother discussing strategy in a book devoted to the deployment of Six Sigma? Because moving from strategy to breakthrough performance is one of the toughest leadership challenges. It takes careful understanding of the external realities of your markets and your customers, setting measurable goals, and aligning your internal actions to accomplish the strategic forecasted outcomes.

In fact, in their excellent article, “Turning Great Strategy into Great Performance” (Harvard Business Review, July–August, 2005), Michael Mankins and Richard Steele report that, of 197 large companies surveyed, companies generally delivered 63 ...