I was facilitating an all day strategy session for a large business unit yesterday and a leader sitting next to me leaned over and confided, “I knew about this initiative but I haven’t given it any thought.  With all the ‘noise’ and distractions, I have to focus my attention on what impacts my business directly.”  I appreciated his candor and also realized that he is most likely in the majority.

Why do I focus on strategy?  Two basic reasons come to mind:  waste and leverage.  I see far too much waste in business: wasted capital, wasted effort, misplaced or misused talent, wasted ideas.  You can often trace these back to an inadequate or a wholly missing strategy.   That’s the downside.  I also see the potential for impact, for leverage, for positive business advantage by giving a little more thought to strategy and execution.  If people took more time to ask “What are we doing?  Why are we choosing that approach?  How will we get there?  Who will play the key roles?” then a business and its people could make a much more positive contribution.

At the end of the day, the same leader turned to me and said “This was a really worthwhile effort and I’m glad I took part.  Our business also booked an additional $2m that we didn’t expect this quarter while I was in this session.  I wish all my days were this productive!”  I smiled as I thought about the many other leaders I’ve worked with who have “mysteriously” experienced similar outcomes.  The truth is, good planning positions us for success.

P.S.  Leaders wanting to stay current on strategy and business might want to check out the magazine www.strategy-business.com published by Booz Allen Hamilton.