Thinkers 50 Strategy: The Art and Science of Strategy Creation and Execution

Introduction

Strategy lies at the intersection of two important phenomena: the professionalization of management and the all too human desire for leaders and organizations to know where they are going and what the future may hold.

Over the last century we have seen management emerge as a profession. Bigger companies producing bigger quantities required a new breed of professionals. The visible hand of management was required to coordinate the flow of products to customers more efficiently than could Adam Smith’s invisible hand.

From the beginning of this process it has been clear that planning is one of a manager’s core activities. This was first expressed by the French thinker Henri Fayol early in the twentieth century. “To manage is to forecast ...