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How to stop senselessly losing good strategy to the gap
Nile Harris
September 04, 2023
I don’t believe in the no-win scenario.
The opening scene of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan shows a Vulcan woman captain faced with an extreme life-or-death situation. The scene concludes with the ship blowing up. As it turns out, there was no way for Lieutenant Saavik to survive the threat. It’s a no-win scenario. Luckily, this was a training exercise called the Kobayashi Maru and everyone was still alive. The test is meant to expose future commanders to the risk of certain death.
Lieutenant Saavik asks Captain Kirk how he did with the test. He passed. Not because he was brilliant but because he hacked the system the night before and changed the test conditions, telling her he didn’t believe in the no-win situation.
This is the moment my interest, no, love of strategy was born. To me, strategy is about seeing all possibilities and choosing a path forward.
The problem with strategy is that it’s so sexy. Everyone wants to do the strategy job until it’s time to do the job of strategy. The operationalization of a strategy is where things go wickedly wrong and fall prey to the gap.
The strategy to execution gap defined.
Clearly define your strategy.
Essential components of your strategy.
Execute your strategy like a hedgehog.
The strategy to execution gap defined.
The strategy-to-execution gap is the disconnect between your strategic plans and the execution of those plans. When there is a lack of alignment, communication, talent, and coordination between the strategy and execution stages of a project or initiative, it can result in failed or incomplete projects, missed opportunities, and lost revenue. And then people are mystified when the goal is missed.
Think of it this way. If a plane is 1-degree off-course when it takes off, it will miss the target by 1 mile for every 60 miles it travels. That means if you leave LAX for JFK, you will find yourself in New Jersey playing finger-pointing Olympics.