A Road Map for Successful Strategy Execution

How do you successfully execute strategy? It's not just about making rational economic decisions. Effective strategy execution demands something more, as the authors find from their analysis of academic literature, hundreds of business cases and their interactions with top executives. This article defines their concept of strategic leadership, as developed by professors of the Strategic Management Department at IESE, and lays out a road map for successful strategy execution, grouped according to four crucial processes: diagnosis, setting direction, action and personal development. The authors explain each process in turn, illustrated with the wisdom and experience of Federico Minoli, the globally renowned "turnaround artist." It's time to set the bar for leadership higher, they argue. This article points the way.