Roger L. Martin

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">The Idea in Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
  <p>It’s commonly held that strategy is distinct from execution, but this is a flawed assumption. The idea that a strategy can be brilliant and its execution poor is simply wrong.</p>
  <p>The metaphor accompanying this viewpoint is that of the human body, with the brain as the “chooser” and the body as the “doer.” Translated into the workplace, the executive at the top dictates the strategy and expects everyone below him to mechanically carry it out.</p>
  <p>A better metaphor is that of a white-water river, where choices cascade from the top to the bottom. In a company, those in charge make broader and more abstract “upstream” choices, and employees downstream are empowered to make choices that best fit the situation at hand. This results in happier customers and more-satisfied employees.</p>
  <p>To best enable individual decisions, choice makers upstream should set the general context for those downstream. From there, employees need to use good judgment to make the best decisions possible. The authors detail four ways those at the top can help.</p>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief><p>The idea that execution is distinct from strategy has become firmly ensconced in management thinking over the past decade. So much so, in fact, that if you run a Google search for “A mediocre strategy well executed is better than a great strategy poorly executed,” you will get more than 42,600 references. Where the idea comes from is not certain, but in 2002, in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, Jamie Dimon, now CEO of JPMorgan Chase, opined, “I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management.” In the same year, Larry Bossidy, former AlliedSignal CEO, coauthored the best-selling book <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780609610572" target="-new"><em>Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done</em></a>, in which the authors declared, “Strategies most often fail because they aren’t well executed.”</p>

nXOAkGvTUkBDkDf2UhpWJEe8OEoiuX4j2s5UfdPfuPy70iAc1jGpowJoL3tNWXDlycFmNqV/kH0UnWmW2SaSOEovWYXKmio3ynDG67zZgxMHVh77aT1DpsqRiTIkbljR

<p><span class="reprint">Reprint: R1007D</span></p>
<p>The realization of a strategy depends on countless employees. So it&#8217;s no surprise that when a strategy fails, the reason cited is usually poor execution.</p>
<p>But this view of strategy and execution relies on a false metaphor in which senior management is a choosing brain while those in the rest of the company are choiceless arms and legs that merely carry out the brain&#8217;s bidding. The approach does damage to the corporation because it alienates the people working for it.</p>
<p>A better metaphor for strategy is a white-water river, in which choices cascade from its source in the mountains (the corporation) to its mouth (the rest of the organization). Executives at the top make the broader choices involving long-term investments while empowering employees toward the bottom to make more concrete, day-to-day decisions that directly influence customer service and satisfaction.</p>
<p>For the cascade to flow properly, a choice maker upstream can set the context for those downstream by doing four things: explaining what the choice is and why it&#8217;s been made, clearly identifying the next downstream choice, offering help with making choices as needed, and committing to revisit and adjust the choice based on feedback.</p>
<p>When downstream choices are valued and feedback is encouraged, employees send information upward, improving the knowledge base of decision makers higher up and helping everyone in the organization make better choices.</p>

The Execution Trap

Reprint: R1007D The realization of a strategy depends on countless employees. So it’s no surprise that when a strategy fails, the reason cited is usually poor execution. But this view of strategy and execution relies on a false metaphor in which senior management is a choosing brain while those in the rest of the company are choiceless arms and legs that merely carry out the brain’s bidding. The approach does damage to the corporation because it alienates the people working for it. A better metaphor for strategy is a white-water river, in which choices cascade from its source in the mountains (the corporation) to its mouth (the rest of the organization). Executives at the top make the broader choices involving long-term investments while empowering employees toward the bottom to make more concrete, day-to-day decisions that directly influence customer service and satisfaction. For the cascade to flow properly, a choice maker upstream can set the context for those downstream by doing four things: explaining what the choice is and why it’s been made, clearly identifying the next downstream choice, offering help with making choices as needed, and committing to revisit and adjust the choice based on feedback. When downstream choices are valued and feedback is encouraged, employees send information upward, improving the knowledge base of decision makers higher up and helping everyone in the organization make better choices.

The Execution Trap

Summary.

Partner Center