The Execution Challenge

Introduction

Why write another book on strategy execution? Strategy execution/implementation books and courses have been around for quite a while, and any web search will produce an abundance of options. However, effective strategy execution remains a major concern within many organizations today with the statistics to prove it. In Chapter 1, we discuss a study conducted by the Graduate Business Curriculum Roundtable and the Business Architecture Guild® that suggests that a big part of the reason for the poor track record with strategy execution may rest with how strategy execution is taught in graduate business programs (and with the materials used in these courses).

The strategy execution/implementation courses in this study focused heavily on the human and organizational elements of strategy implementation—managing people, resistance to change, building effective teams, navigating/understanding politics, types of power, change management strategies, importance of communication, organizational structure, information and decision processes, rewards, people, and leading change without formal authority. These topics are covered most often in strategy execution–related books and are often taught in strategy execution/implementation–related courses.

While these topics are important for successful strategy execution, they are far from the comprehensive set of skills, knowledge, and processes needed for successful strategy execution. None of the courses in the study (and the books ...