A self contained strategy framework to understand and create winning strategies from scratch.

Strategy is integral to a successful organization. But without strong execution, even a well-defined strategy can fall apart. Executive teams that combine actionable strategy with operational depth are the ones most likely to stay the course and deliver long-standing results. In this book, noted strategy and operational experts Tara Rethore and Catherine Langreney draw from their extensive experience to create one of the most comprehensive collections of tools to aid CEOs and senior executives in bringing strategy to life. Charting the Course emphasizes the value of balancing strategy and operations to set the destination, plan and manage the journey, control momentum, and incorporate learning to do it all over again.

How to close the gap between strategy and execution Two-thirds of executives say their organizations don’t have the capabilities to support their strategy. In Strategy That Works, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi explain why. They identify conventional business practices that unintentionally create a gap between strategy and execution. And they show how some of the best companies in the world consistently leap ahead of their competitors. Based on new research, the authors reveal five practices for connecting strategy and execution used by highly successful enterprises such as IKEA, Natura, Danaher, Haier, and Lego. These companies: • Commit to what they do best instead of chasing multiple opportunities • Build their own unique winning capabilities instead of copying others • Put their culture to work instead of struggling to change it • Invest where it matters instead of going lean across the board • Shape the future instead of reacting to it Packed with tools you can use for building these five practices into your organization and supported by in-depth profiles of companies that are known for making their strategy work, this is your guide for reconnecting strategy to execution.

Named to the longlist for the 2021 Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award in the Leadership category Are you ready to lead? Will you pass the test? Despite all the effort through the years to understand what it takes to be an effective leader, the challenges of leadership remain enormously difficult and elusive; even today, most CEOs don't last five years in the job. The demands to deliver at a consistently high level can be unforgiving. The loneliness. The weight of responsibility. The relentless second-guessing and criticism. The pressure to build all-star teams. The 24/7 schedule that requires superhuman stamina. The tough decisions that often leave no one happy. The expectation to always have the right answer when it can be hard just to know the right question. These challenges are brought into their highest and sharpest relief in the corner office, but they are hardly unique to chief executives. All leaders face their own version of these tests, and the authors draw on the distilled wisdom, stories, and lessons from hundreds of chief executives to show how every aspiring leader can master these challenges and lead like a CEO. These foundational leadership skills will make all aspiring executives more effective in their roles today and lift the trajectory of their careers. The CEO Test is the authoritative, no-nonsense insider's guide to navigating leadership's toughest challenges, brought to you by authors uniquely qualified to tell the stories. Adam Bryant has conducted in-depth interviews with more than 600 CEOs. Kevin Sharer spent more than two decades as president and then CEO of Amgen, where he led its expansion from $1 billion in annual revenues to nearly $16 billion. He has served on many boards and is a sought-after mentor for CEOs of global companies. Leadership is getting harder as the speed of disruption across all industries accelerates. The CEO Test will better prepare you to succeed, whether you're a CEO or just setting out to become one.

Today’s organizations face difficult challenges in order to remain competitive—the quickening pace of change, increasing uncertainty, growing ambiguity, and complexity. To meet these challenges, organizations must broaden the scope of leadership responsibility for strategic leadership and engage more people in the process of leadership. In Becoming a Strategic Leader Rich Hughes and Kate Beatty from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) offer executives and managers a handbook for implementing a strategic leadership process that reaches leaders at all levels of organizations. Based on CCL’s successful Developing the Strategic Leader Program, this book outlines the framework of strategic leadership and contains practical suggestions on how to develop the individual, team, and organizational skills needed for institutions to become more adaptable, flexible, and resilient. The authors also show how individual managers can exercise effective strategic leadership through their distinctive and systemic approach—thinking, acting, and influencing.

Strategy for Executives is the only business strategy book that you and your teams will ever need. This book presents a self-contained strategy framework that introduces the core concepts of business strategy and its associated tools from scratch so that you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience. It gradually takes you from the basics and fundamentals of strategy to a level of depth that even if you’re an experienced executive, you will still find relevant and useful. More specifically, Strategy for Executives will help you: - Learn the fundamental concepts of business strategy from scratch - Create a solid plan to protect your core business from erosion and commoditization - Maximize your organization’s valuation with our seven different paths to grow - Ensure the implementation of your strategy using our execution system - Understand capital allocation and how it can help you achieve your organization’s goals It also includes a complementary downloadable mindmap and other tools which you can access for free at strategyforexecs.com. This framework is based on extensive multi-year research led by Sun Wu, a seasoned Fortune 500 executive, where he and his team broke down the most popular strategy frameworks of the last 40 years, extracted their core ideas, and tied them all together into a single didactical and self-contained body of knowledge. The idea is to build your strategy knowledge from the ground up through a unified framework avoiding the confusion that comes from learning this complex but critical subject from different sources. It combines Sun Wu’s over 15 years of real-life experience, complemented by a thorough revision of more than 300 books and research papers, and over 500 hours of videos, interviews and formal training. The final result is a concise guide that will help you understand and build a winning strategy from the ground up, supported by numerous examples of modern organizations including General Electric, Amazon, Netflix, HBO, NextEra Energy, Kodak, Google, GoPro, McKinsey & Co., Rolls-Royce, Walmart, Uber, Align Technology, United Parcel Service (UPS), FedEx, Sony, IBM, Dr Pepper Snapple, Square, and Procter & Gamble among others. Since every concept is explained from scratch, Strategy for Executives, currently in its 2019 edition, is the only strategy framework that you and your teams will ever need.

When it comes to creating an executive compensation program, it can feel like there’s little gray area between giving top performers too shiny a golden parachute, with exorbitant perks, and providing the company’s leaders with the incentive they need to continue doing their best. This book gives readers the techniques and understanding they need to design a rewards strategy that will motivate performers while benefiting the entire organization. Taking a careful look at the complicated state of executive rewards, this no-nonsense, practical guide provides readers with a complete methodology for motivating management to accomplish critical business goals. Eschewing a one-size-fits-all approach, the book uses case studies and examples to illustrate what factors should be considered—including environment, key stakeholders, people strategy, business strategy, and organizational capabilities—when designing a program that will benefit both their company and the people who fuel its success.

Whether you are a CEO, CFO, board member, or an IT executive, From Business Strategy to Information Technology Roadmap: A Practical Guide for Executives and Board Members lays out a practical, how-to approach to identifying business strategies and creating value-driven technology roadmaps in your organization. Unlike many other books on the subject, you will not find theories or grandiose ideas here. This book uses numerous examples, illustrations, and case studies to show you how to solve the real-world problems that business executives and technology leaders face on a day-to-day basis. Filled with actionable advice you can use immediately, the authors introduce Agile and the Lean mindset in a manner that the people in your business and technology departments can easily understand. Ideal for executives in both the commercial and nonprofit sectors, it includes two case studies: one about a commercial family business that thrived to become a multi-million-dollar company and the other about a nonprofit association based in New York City that fights against child illiteracy.

Making strategy requires undertaking major—often irreversible—decisions aimed at long-term success in an uncertain future. All leaders must formulate a clear course of action, yet many lack confidence in their ability to think systematically about their strategy. They struggle to apply the abstract lessons offered by conventional approaches to strategic analysis to their unique contexts. Making Great Strategy resolves these challenges with a straightforward, readily applicable framework. Jesper B. Sørensen and Glenn R. Carroll show that one factor underlies all sustainably successful strategies: a logically coherent argument that connects resources, capabilities, and environmental conditions to desired outcomes. They introduce a system for formulating and managing strategy through a set of three core activities: visualization, formalization and logic, and constructive argumentation. These activities can be implemented in any organization and are illustrated through examples and case studies from well-known companies such as Apple, Walmart, and The Economist. This book shows that while great strategic thinking is hard, it is not a mystery. Widely applicable and relevant for managers and leaders at all levels, especially executive teams charged with setting the course of their organizations, it is essential reading for anyone faced with practical problems of strategic management.

The instant #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, #1 USA Today bestseller answers the world’s most complex question: How do you lead? Leadership is the most challenging of human endeavors. It is often misunderstood. It can bewilder, mystify, and frustrate even the most dedicated practitioners. Leaders at all levels are often forced to use theoretical guesswork to make decisions and lead their troops. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY. There are principles that can be applied and tenets that can be followed. There are skills that can be learned and maneuvers that can be practiced and executed. There are leadership strategies and tactics that have been tested and proven on the battlefield, in business, and in life. Retired U.S. Navy SEAL officer Jocko Willink delivers his powerful and pragmatic leadership methodology, which teaches how to lead any team in any situation to victory. This new expanded edition contains a protocol to develop and hone critical decision-making instincts and make them habitual.