Strategy Execution soundbite

MBA Guest Lecture on Strategy Execution

The director of the University of Canterbury MBA program asked me to deliver a guest lecture on Strategy Execution this week.

He wanted a presenter who could deliver a 1-hour “practitioner’s view” to the MBA class, which comprised business leaders from private companies, not-for-profit enterprises, and some very large State Owned Enterprises. Here is my After Action Review:

What actually happened?

Strategy Execution is a vast subject, so I cherry-picked a selection of tools and principles that I find useful in my work with clients (entrepreneurial growth firms). Here’s what I covered in my 1-hour virtual lecture:

  • Why choosing your Target Customer is the most important strategic decision you can make
  • Strategic decision-making and the importance of trade-offs
  • Less is more (the importance of focus)
  • Using pre-mortems to properly scope out Strategic Projects
  • How to run effective strategy execution meetings
  • How to track Metrics(KPIs) the right way
  • How to hold people accountable

What went well?

  • The content seemed to resonate well with the class
  • It was a good opportunity to test presentation materials from the new online management training courses I am building (see below)
  • My wife Bianca builds my slide decks and creates my video presentations. She makes me look good!

What could have gone better?

  • Less is more! This is a lesson I still need to master. Once again, in my eagerness to deliver value, I packed too much content into the time allowed. I only left 5 minutes at the end of my presentation for questions from the audience and ran out of time to answer all their questions. In hindsight, I probably should have presented for 45 minutes, and allowed 15 minutes for interactive Q&A.

Next steps?

Continue building and recording the training modules for my online training course on Strategy Execution. I already have clients working through training modules on “Meaningful Metrics (KPIs)” and “Implementing Projects & Tasks”.  The next module I am recording in the filming studio is “Meetings With Impact”. Watch this space!

Here is a brief soundbite of what I presented:

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Until next time…
Stephen