Another Strategy Article from Mr. Porter

June 2nd, 2009 | Strategy

I love crisp short articles like this (Michael Porter’s Big Ideas). Very energizing!

Mr. Hammonds and Mr. Porter blast through a compelling story to help people understand strategy. They state that through the 90s, for the most part strategy had knowingly or sometimes unknowingly fallen by the wayside. A combination of technology and culture had changed the landscape and most companies simply relied on operational effectiveness as a means of competing. They provide some interesting justifications for why that is not a recipe for sustaining yourself.

They tackle some interesting topics including how change affects strategy, the impact of technology, and how leadership should affect strategy. I highly recommend a read through the article, especially the last section “Great strategies are a cause.”

Here are some of my favorite lines from the article…

“Of course strategy is hard — it’s about making tough choices.”

“Strategy 101 is about choices: You can’t be all things to all people.”

“It’s extremely dangerous to bet on the incompetence of your competitors — and that’s what you’re doing when you’re competing on operational effectiveness.”

“Sound strategy starts with having the right goal. And I argue that the only goal that can support a sound strategy is superior profitability.”

“Strategy is about the basic value you’re trying to deliver to customers, and about which customers you’re trying to serve.”

“The chief strategist of an organization has to be the leader — the CEO.”

“In any organization, thousands of ideas pour in every day — from employees with suggestions, from customers asking for things, from suppliers trying to sell things. There’s all this input, and 99% of it is inconsistent with the organization’s strategy.”

“A leader also has to make sure that everyone understands the strategy.”

“The best CEOs I know are teachers, and at the core of what they teach is strategy. They go out to employees, to suppliers, and to customers, and they repeat, “This is what we stand for, this is what we stand for.” So everyone understands it. This is what leaders do. In great companies, strategy becomes a cause. That’s because a strategy is about being different. So if you have a really great strategy, people are fired up…”

Image Source: fastcompany.com

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