Smart leaders focus on execution first and strategy second

“We found the perfect strategy” ranks with “And they lived happily ever after” as a perpetual myth. A strategy is never excellent in and of itself; it is shaped, enhanced, or limited by implementation. Top leaders can provide the framework and tools for a team, but the game is won on the playing field. When a strategy looks brilliant, it’s because of the quality of execution. A dumb idea is the one you fumble in the field by missing critical details, like how customers would react or what competitors might change while you’re still picking up the ball.

In decades of teaching executives at Harvard Business School and interviewing CEOs for my research, I’ve observed that savvy leaders whose strategies succeed tend to focus on four implementation imperatives:

Question everything. When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007 with AT&T as exclusive service provider, telecom giant Verizon decided to launch its own smartphone. It knew it had to act fast, so top leaders began by challenging major assumptions about how they operated. Instead of do-it-ourselves, they worked with Google and Motorola. Instead of we-know-better, they used their partners’ capabilities and shared data. Instead of waiting for every step to be finished before proceeding to the next, they worked on many fronts simultaneously. They created an excellent product in record time, in time for launch in the 2009 holiday season. In the two months post-launch, Droid sales even outpaced the iPhone’s launch numbers. Verizon would not have been able to so quickly and successfully change its strategy without being willing to question and overhaul traditional organizational structures.

INSIGHT CENTER
The Gap Between Strategy and Execution
Aligning the big picture with the day-to-day.
Inform everyone, then empower champions. Excellent execution requires both breadth and depth. Big strategies need local options. A bank CEO who successfully implemented a new strategy for positioning the company as environmentally responsible in a country with strong environmental values started with broad awareness sessions for all employees, so they would know what was happening, and so the company could benefit from crowdsourced ideas. But then the CEO zeroed in on volunteer champions who stepped forward to realize the vision through innovations in products and customer relationships. He didn’t worry about converting the skeptics, insist that all units make changes at exactly the same rate, or determine which innovations to undertake. He started a snowball rolling. The champions’ wins became success stories that stimulated others to adopt practices or create their own.

Keep relationships tight and rules loose. Visionary leaders see further when they can see through many eyes. This means staying in close communication with their on-the-ground players, the way football coaches talks with quarterbacks on headsets throughout the game. The CEO and COO of a multisite nonprofit were rolling out a new strategy started with tight, rules-laden processes and playbooks. But as unexpected obstacles and shortfalls showed up on quarterly reports, they realized they should loosen procedural controls while working harder to get the on-site implementers working closely together and with HQ as allies in pursuit of a common mission. Once they articulated their shared purpose, took responsibility for how every other site performed, and developed mutual respect, they vaulted over hurdles and created better ways to meet goals. Shared values knit people together. Arrogance at the top and communication silos below undermine execution.

Modify quickly. David Kenny became the CEO of private-equity-owned Weather Company to bring its TV channel into the digital age by building on a wealth of data analytics. He also stressed synergies between digital and TV. On-air meteorol