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That image above is courtesy of this book, by the way. Peter’s a smart dude.
I’ve had a bunch of different jobs, and I’ll be honest: by this point, about 13 years into working, I oftentimes have no idea what strategy even is. I know that senior leaders of companies typically have a couple of big meetings (“off-sites”) per year and they hammer out some “go-to-market” strategies and the like — although those are often created in a vacuum, away from the people who actually have to execute on the ideas — but at most jobs, daily tasks seem to matter way more than any concept of strategy, even for senior executives.
This is the rubber-road aspect of all this: there’s supposed strategy, which is essentially long-term thinking or visioning. And then there’s execution, which is how you actually take the strategy and turn it into revenue, growth, and profits.
You need both: A great strategy without execution is one of those ‘tree falls in the forest’ moments, and great execution without strategy is just a bunch of people running around thinking they’re doing great when nothing is tied to a long-term goal (also known for many as “The Temple of Busy” or “The Cross”).
Here’s the rub, though: are executives capable of understanding both?
