By Ken Rosen
Execution matters. A lot. And the schism between strategy and execution is a myth. The fact is poor execution can kill the best plan. And that hurts organizations for two critical reasons: first and most obvious is missed opportunity. The plan fails because of poor follow-through. But second and more insidious, the organization (as a whole or in the minds of particular decision makers) remembers that “this plan didn’t work.” And that translates to “all plans like this won’t work.” Any strategy resembling the failed strategy hits massive organizational obstacles. A city planner once told me, “we used to spend 70% on the tree and 30% on the hole. We learned to spend 40% on the tree and 60% on the hole.” A wonderfully-selected, healthy tree may be ready to grow, but like any strategy, it needs follow-through.
Takeaways:
- Invest in the hole: Ensure your best people have time to think through execution.
- Don’t get confused by what kept past approaches from hitting their potential: were the ideas wrong or was execution simply not up to the task?
