Execution is a dirty word. Almost like as if it belongs to the lower caste of management.
It’s a word that the finest pedigree of management should have nothing to do with. An MBA aspirant from a top business school conjures up a dream of formulating the strategy of the organization. He thinks of fancy models, charts, dogs, stars, vision, mission…and visualizes himself presenting to the Board. ‘What an audacious plan’, ‘ Superb strategy’, ‘ Breakthrough Ideas’
And then he thinks of the menial slaves, who will be implementing the strategy; of dim-wit C-graders who will toil in the market place or sweat on the shop floor.
This is what I call an ‘apartheid’ of tasks, where strategy & execution have been segregated into two different compartments.
The white sahibs of strategy & brown natives of execution. And a yawning gulf between their worlds.
It comes as no surprise therefore that most strategies fail.
And why do they fail? “Oh, poor execution” say the white sahibs.
Wonder sometimes, if there is a role reversal and execution becomes the ‘in-thing’.
The day when CEO spend time looking at project management structures, bottlenecks, constraints in executing a strategy. When a strategist spends time with the consumers trying to understand what went wrong with the ‘Incredible product’. When the marketer sits with his multiple channel partners to understand how his channel strategy is falling apart due to undercutting & channel conflict.
Maybe ‘Execution’ then is not such a demeaning work and ‘Execution Officer’ looks more interesting than ‘Business Strategist’. A sort of reversal of the caste hierarchy where clergy are subservient to the artisans.
It’s a word that the finest pedigree of management should have nothing to do with. An MBA aspirant from a top business school conjures up a dream of formulating the strategy of the organization. He thinks of fancy models, charts, dogs, stars, vision, mission…and visualizes himself presenting to the Board. ‘What an audacious plan’, ‘ Superb strategy’, ‘ Breakthrough Ideas’
And then he thinks of the menial slaves, who will be implementing the strategy; of dim-wit C-graders who will toil in the market place or sweat on the shop floor.
This is what I call an ‘apartheid’ of tasks, where strategy & execution have been segregated into two different compartments.
The white sahibs of strategy & brown natives of execution. And a yawning gulf between their worlds.
It comes as no surprise therefore that most strategies fail.
And why do they fail? “Oh, poor execution” say the white sahibs.
Wonder sometimes, if there is a role reversal and execution becomes the ‘in-thing’.
The day when CEO spend time looking at project management structures, bottlenecks, constraints in executing a strategy. When a strategist spends time with the consumers trying to understand what went wrong with the ‘Incredible product’. When the marketer sits with his multiple channel partners to understand how his channel strategy is falling apart due to undercutting & channel conflict.
Maybe ‘Execution’ then is not such a demeaning work and ‘Execution Officer’ looks more interesting than ‘Business Strategist’. A sort of reversal of the caste hierarchy where clergy are subservient to the artisans.
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