Strategy to Action

FAR

Five Foundations of Effective Strategic Thinking

Business Acumen

Personal Experience

Pattern Recognition

Strategic Insight

Disciplined Execution

Most people think of:

Rivalry Among Existing

Competitors

Threat of New

Entrants

Bargaining Power of Buyers

Threat of Substitutes

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” Leonardo da Vinci

Effective Strategy = Valued Differentiation x Disciplined Execution

What strategy is not…• More, better, faster is not a strategy.• Effectiveness and efficiency are

necessary… but not sufficient.• Superb execution of fundamental

business processes… is expected.• Being extremely good at what you are

supposed to be good at… gets you no extra credit at all.

The Four – I’s

• Ignorance• Inflexibility• Indifference• Inconsistency

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How to avoid the Four I’s • Aggressive external market focus.

• Aggressive customer focus.

• Keep the “Main Things” the main things.

• Bullish on knowledge sharing and learning.

• Passion and commitment at all levels.

• Foster a healthy paranoia.

• Revel in change.

From the CEO of a little 241 billion dollar company…

Look, what is strategy but resource allocation? When you strip away all the noise, that’s what it comes down to. Strategy means making clear-cut choices about how to compete. You cannot be everything to everybody, no matter what the size your business or how deep its pockets…

Jeffrey Immelt

You have to figure out what to say NO to.

Breakthrough Strategies

GE: 1- 2 or F.S.C. Intel: memory to processors Microsoft: installed base Apple: chaos to elegance Saturn: no haggling

Southwest

1 type of planePoint-to-point

Fast turnsLow fares / no frills

Friendly staff

Dell

BTOJIT

Inventory turnsLogistics vs. Technology

VOC

100,000ELP

No FrillsLogistics

Southwest – Dell – Walmart What is the pattern?

• Extreme Efficiency

• Minimize Costs to as close to zero as possible – w/o negative impact

• All focused on delivering specific customer value

Educated Guess Focus

Resource AllocationBold not Risky

What NOT to do

Ideas into Action

Typically the BOD is NOT responsible for execution of the

strategic plan…

It is most often the responsibility of the CEO/ED and staff or

committees.

BOD as High Performance

Team

• D• M• C• C• M• D

irection – vivid, clear, inspiring --- shared

easurements – specific, observable, focused

ompetence – very good at what they do

ommunication – open, honest, courageous

utual Accountability – all team members

iscipline – do this every day

BOD as Change Agents

1.Irresistible case for change2.New vision of the future3.Sense of urgency4.Guiding coalition5.Plan for small wins6.Empower others

Accountability

• 100% Clarity + Appropriate Authority

• 100% Agreement

• Tracking & Post

• Coach, mentor, train, support

• Reward / Punish

What are THREE things you can do right away to increase the level of disciplined execution of your strategy?