"Sixty-one percent of corporate strategists say poor strategy execution is the primary reason that new growth initiatives fail,” says Marc Kelly, VP at Gartner. “It’s more of a problem than the strategy itself or the funding of that strategy, and it stems from a range of issues."
The 5 Pillars of Successful Strategy Execution. Gartner. July 17, 2023
A recent Finnish study of 380 virtual work meetings showed that remote viewers reported feeling drowsy (and some nearly fell asleep) after just 10 minutes...
The study reinforces another experiment that University of Washington biology professor John Medina conducts with his students every year, which reaches the same conclusion.
Medina says, "After 9 minutes and 59 seconds, the audience's attention is getting ready to plummet to near zero."
Scientists Pinpoint the Exact Moment People Loose Interest in a Presentation: Three ways to keep your audience engaged beyond this cliff. Inc. Feb. 27, 2024
To avoid priority proliferation, managers can inject discipline into the prioritization process by making choices more explicitly and systematically. At Diageo Ireland, for instance, issues are triaged into one of three categories: soft opportunities or threats, which receive ongoing monitoring but no action; hard opportunities or threats, which require immediate action and become a priority within the company; and nonissues, which are dropped from the agenda. Teams can also adopt a small set of simple rules to guide the prioritization process. Consider All America Latina Logistica S.A., which began life as a privatized branch of Brazil’s freight railway. The new company had only $15 million for capital spending to offset decades of underinvestment. So, to select from among countless capital budgeting proposals, management adopted a set of simple rules, such as “eliminate bottlenecks to growing revenues,” “lowest up-front cash beats highest net present value” and “reuse of existing resources beats acquiring new.”
"Closing the Gap Between Strategy and Execution," MIT Sloan Management Review. July 1, 2007
So let's talk about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl...
Swift was there, of course. For a while things looked tough for the Chiefs, until they won the game on a last-second touchdown pass in overtime.
Afterward, Swift made her way down to the field, where she reunited with Kelce....
I was curious what they would say to each other... But I also realized that it doesn't matter. What mattered much more is the fact that Swift was there.
Remember, in the days before the Super Bowl, one of the storylines was whether Swift would be able to make it to Las Vegas from Tokyo, where she had a concert Saturday evening, in time for the game...
The trip required Swift to leave immediately after her concert and fly for about 12 hours to Los Angeles, before a one-night stopover and then another hour flight to Las Vegas on Sunday.
Obviously, Swift wasn't flying in the middle seat on a commercial flight, but it still took a significant effort. And, that effort is a statement...
Sometimes the thing that matters most is that you show up and support the people you care about when they're facing a challenge.
So, you go to their games and performances. You applaud, you cheer; if they come up short, you're there for them.
You sit in on their presentations, if you're allowed; if not, you make sure to reach out to them and offer encouragement beforehand.
You stand by them in their hours of need. When they've fallen short at something, you tell them you still think they're great, and you believe in them, and they'll do better next time.
When they're sick or they have suffered a loss, you visit them in the hospital; you go to the funeral.
You understand that your presence isn't really about you; it's about the other person. That's part of why you don't have to say very much sometimes, because being there speaks volumes.
But if you're not there, you understand as a leader that the opposite is true, too: Your absence would speak volumes.
"With Literally Zero Words, Taylor Swift Just Taught a Crucial Lesson in Leadership," Inc. Feb 12, 2024
The strategy process defines where a business wants to go, and the people process defines who's going to get it there. The operating plan provides the path for those people. It breaks long-term output into short-term targets. Meeting those here-and-now targets forces decisions to be made and integrated across the organization, both initially and in response to changes in business conditions. It puts reality behind the numbers. The operating plan is not budgeting for "We did better than last year." Such budgeting looks into the rearview mirror to set its goals; an operating plan looks forward to the hows.
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan with Charles Burck. 2002. Crown Business, NY, NY. p. 226, 227
