Why You Must Stay on Strategy

Lorraine MooreFeet to the Fire, Leadership

Why You Must Stay on Strategy - Lorraine Moore

On the one hand…

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund is joining forces with Japan’s SoftBank Group to build the world’s biggest solar-power- generation project, writes The Wall Street Journal’s Margherita Stancati and Michael Amon.

The project would kick-off this year with a $1 billion investment from the joint Saudi-SoftBank Vision Fund, and would provide about 200 gigawatts of power by 2030, said Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of SoftBank.

On the other hand…

BYD, a Chinese carmaker, announced an anticipated 92% slump in profits this quarter and attributed it to Beijing’s cut in subsidies for new energy vehicles.

On one hand…

Arizona Governor suspended Uber’s ability to pilot self-driving cars.

On the other hand…

Waymo is buying 20,000 Jaguar vehicles for its driverless fleet. The deal is estimated to be worth as much as $1B and is part of Waymo’s strategy to dramatically increase the number of driverless vehicles in their fleet.

When boards, executives (or investors for that matter) whipsaw their strategy based on regulatory changes, market conditions, positive or negative economic performance, activist investors or protestors or any other short to mid-term external forces, long-term performance suffers – always.

You need to heed all of these considerations but they should not drive a change in strategy. They must generate an improvement in execution, an investment in your brand, perhaps a new or different business model, diversification or cost reduction. This is execution, not strategy. Don’t get the two mixed up.

Stay on strategy. It is for the long term. Challenge your execution and rout out complacency and groupthink every day. Hold your own and others’ feet to the fire.

Want to delve deeper into creating an accountability culture? Pick up a copy of my book, Feet to the Fire: How to Exemplify and Create the Accountability that Creates Great Companies available on Amazon.

My clients accelerate their results – increasing profitability, leadership performance, innovation, and accountability. I would love to discuss how I might contribute to your accountability culture. Contact me today.

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© 2018 Lorraine A. Moore. All rights reserved. Permission granted to excerpt or reprint with attribution.