Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
At CUES Symposium: A CEO/Chairman Exchange in February, speaker Mike Useem put "specify a strategy" on his checklist for leaders. (Useem is Williams and Jacalyn Egan professor of management and director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, home to CUES' CEO Institute I.)
So how can leaders effectively set strategy?
At the inaugural CUES International Leadership Academy this week in Miami, Florida International University Assistant Professor Bill Schneper identified "Rob Grant's four keys to a successful strategy," according to notes shared by CUES SVP/Chief Operating Officer Barb Kachelski. (CUES President/CEO Fred Johnson also is in attendance.):
First set simple and consistent long-term goals.
Then, be sure you have a profound understanding of the competitive environment.
Also complete an objective appraisal of resources and capabilities.
Finally, you can move on to a successful implementation.
Grant's 2007 book, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, guides the reader through "different approaches, showing their pros and cons," writes an Amazon reviewer who gave the book five stars.
What's your experience? Will Grant's four key steps guide most strategy setting in the big picture at least? Do you have a favorite approach to setting your CU's strategy? And, back to Useem, do you think all leaders need to have a solid strategy?
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
Check out our strategy archive.
