by Krysta Fox,
Strategist and Change Leader; Founder and CEO, Changeosity; former CEO of the
World’s Number 1 Economic Zone, DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre), UAE
It is an honor to be invited to write this for a book that I believe will significantly impact the way we approach strategic thinking and execution.
When I opened the pages of Optimizing Strategy for Results, I was compelled to start at the end. Immediately drawn to the latter stages of execution (5 to 7), I was thinking about the many instances of compelling strategies failing to fly. Execution is a discipline that requires a framework, and most leaders and employees simply don’t have those tools, and as a result give up on their strategies before any real gains are achieved. It does not have to be that way. Optimizing Strategy for Results shows a new way for anyone who wants to do a much better job of being a strategic leader and creating high levels of team engagement. This is the kind of book where you need to get out your pencil and start making notes!
I am a big fan of this book because it provides a road map for the pragmatist. The authors do not submit us to the regurgitation of theory and unnecessary word count, rather, they show us the way to develop and execute powerful strategy. This can only be successfully achieved by practitioners who have done it, failed a few (or more) times, and worked out the most effective method. It takes years of real, gritty experience to achieve what inks the pages of this impressive manual. I have had the immense pleasure and privilege of working with Prof. Tim on challenging strategy assignments so I know this to be true.
My career has enabled me to work with many different teams on new strategies and I have also captained global business transformation teams that have delivered exceptional results. As a change leader and, like many, a student at the ‘school of hard knocks’, I have discovered that the toughest part of strategy is keeping it alive every day, as you and your team lay the stonework on the road to your vision. Here finally is a strategy guidebook that divides its focus in the right measure between ideation and execution. As the authors so clearly explain, strategy is not an event, it is a process that can lead to winning results when it is approached in the right way.
I wonder, then, why is it that most strategy books fail to give more than a cursory nod toward the hardest part of achieving strategic outcomes— the road full of barricades, blocks and bumps—execution? In Optimizing Strategy for Results you will find gems that will totally change the way you strategize and think about value creation. This book will also show you how to use tried, trusted, and effective strategy tools like Porter’s five forces, SWOT, balanced scorecard, GANTT, and SMART.
Simplicity is a word to which I continuously returned while reading Optimizing Strategy for Results. The authors make it simple to create and execute effective strategy. For example, the most successful business change projects in my career have leveraged partnerships to build value, and yet I have never encountered the powerful simplicity presented in the likes of the partnership grid. I will not be without it again.
The good news is that the authors also understand strategy design every bit as well as execution, and there is more gold to be found throughout Optimizing Strategy for Results. You will soon be scampering toward the four Cs, with your SLOC in hand, while asking insight-generating open questions. Seriously, though, making strategy fun and engaging is one of the best weapons in your arsenal. This book provides a powerful framework for creative collaboration. If you believe, as I do, that all the answers are in the room, then Optimizing Strategy for Results teaches you how to extract them.
If you’ve ever been part of the kind of futuristic, conceptual, persuasive thinking described in Stage 3, Creating Strategic Thinking, you will have experienced the thrill of the creative process. In contrast, it is deeply satisfying to execute a strategy knowing the hurdles that have been jumped or smashed through. That is where Optimizing Strategy for Results leads business leaders down a new path, and any leader of change is the better for reading this insightful manifesto.
To Tim, Ron, and Evans, your collaboration on this book will improve the strategic capability of everyone who reads it.
To the reader, devour this book, mark its pages, scribble in the margins, experiment, and you will have built a toolkit that multiplies your ability to optimize your strategy and deliver results.