Zeitgeist Inflection
Most strategists will clock and respond to a change in interest rates or cheaper competitors. But what about a change in vibes when the customer’s desires shift? Strategy never sleeps. No matter how brilliant your plan is, small changes can undermine it. Changes come in lots of forms, some obvious, like a cheaper competitor or […]
Mind the Gap –Executive Edition
As we discussed last week, in most organizations, the strategy doesn’t make it very far beneath the C-suite. This isn’t obvious when you are part of the senior team that creates that strategy. From that vantage point, because you are perpetually thinking about, measuring, and discussing it, it’s easy to assume that everyone else in […]
Mind the Gap, Employee Edition
We often hear about the execution gap in strategy. Researchers have said for years that 90% of strategies fail because they don’t get executed. I’m skeptical about that number. But regardless of the exact statistic, it remains true that strategies are only as effective as their execution. And execution is not easy. This issue of […]
If Culture Eats Strategy, What Eats Culture?
Everyone knows the line: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s usually attributed to Peter Drucker, although for the life of me I can’t find any evidence he said it. But Drucker aside, the meaning is what matters. Without the right culture, even magnificent strategies fail. But culture is not the apex predator of strategy. Something […]
Less is More in Strategy
Prefer to watch rather than read? Here’s a short 6-minute video. Gardening Sometime early in the pandemic I decided I wanted to have a flower garden. I began planting things. Some of them grew well, some not. Eventually, it became a colorful garden. But soon, my pretty blooms got straggly, and stopped flowering. I was […]