Strategy is useless! Unless it can be translated into action... | Graeme Cocks

The book The First XI: Winning Organisations in Australia set out to identify Australian organisations deemed to be high performing or winning over the long term and highlight their underlying causes of success.

Graeme Cocks says 'success was based on broad indicators, such as financial, growth, innovation, productivity and efficiency measures - not just profits. We investigated the winning 11 organisations over a 20-year period and a solid financial performance was a prerequisite through the economic cycles.'

Read more about this book here.

According to Graeme Cocks:

'Strategy formulation is usually regarded as the exclusive domain of senior management because it rewards creativity - the most admired and valued of all intellectual pursuits. It is where managers aspire to be because of the challenges, rewards and influence that it brings. By comparison, effective implementation of strategy rarely gets as much kudos or respect. Yet experienced executives know that the most creative and well crafted visions and strategic plans are useless if they cannot be translated into action.'

To read more on Graeme's 2010 examination of emerging concepts for implementing strategy email us at executiveseries@mbs.edu

Graeme Cocks

And if you'd like to learn how to build your own winning organisation, click here.