Strategic Thinking & Strategic Action

Fostering strategic thinking and strategic action by organizational leaders since 2007.

The secret sauce of successful plan implementation
Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh

The secret sauce of successful plan implementation

I have been working diligently with my clients the last quarter of this year to assure that they have their strategic business plans in place for the New Year.

Each now has a vision of great success, strategies for getting there, and action steps and strategic initiatives laid out for the next 12 months to move them toward their vision.

You might think with their action plan written, my clients are ready to achieve greater success when January 1 rolls around.

Well, without something else, maybe you can call it the special sauce of execution, the odds are too high that they will not implement their plans or that implementation may peter out after a strong start. Just like so many New Year’s resolutions are abandoned.

Read More
How to build commitment to change, revisited
Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh

How to build commitment to change, revisited

Implementing a strategic plan by executing action steps is a large-scale organizational change process. However logical and essential the change seems to those driving it, others will resist change and be a barrier to successful implementation. Gaining and maintaining commitment to the plan and its implementation is a critical step.

Read More
Demand a great brand!
Strategy Lee Crumbaugh Strategy Lee Crumbaugh

Demand a great brand!

I have been editing the second edition of the seminal book on strategy for strategy professionals, Strategy in the 21st Century, written by my friend and professional colleague Randy Rollinson. It references developing a clear brand as a key driver of strategic success. Amen! That echoes what I know: Success demands great strategy and a great brand.

Read More
AI revisited: Will it ever make perfect decisions?
Decision making Lee Crumbaugh Decision making Lee Crumbaugh

AI revisited: Will it ever make perfect decisions?

In our book, BIG DECISIONS, published in 2022, we took on the topic of whether artificial intelligence would soon (or ever) become the answer when we are looking for the right decision.

The idea is that we can maximize our gain from decisions is by using machines to help us make them or even have machines make them for us. But the question then and even more so now with the sudden emergence of OpenAI’s Chat GPT, Meta’s Llama 2, Anthropic’s Claude 2, Google’s Bard, and other groundbreaking AI large language models (LLMs), is can an algorithm be perfected to always yield "the right decision"?

Read More
Sometimes you get what you need
Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh

Sometimes you get what you need

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (middle left in the 1965 photo of the band) died today. He was a great drummer. He was unassuming and did not care much for the flamboyant lifestyles of his peers in the band. Watts quietly focused on his craft for more than 50 years.

But, you ask, what does that have to do with strategy? Let me digress and you soon will see that it has all to do with strategy.

Read More
Let’s not be complacent about our ignorance!
Coaching Lee Crumbaugh Coaching Lee Crumbaugh

Let’s not be complacent about our ignorance!

My mother encouraged me to read and learn. But she cautioned me, “The more you learn the less you will know.” That was her way of saying that learning opens whole domains about which we were previously ignorant and shows us how much more there is to learn.

Read More
Why settle? Go for the gold!
Coaching Lee Crumbaugh Coaching Lee Crumbaugh

Why settle? Go for the gold!

A business coach who “has been there” and has the right skill sets for coaching, planning, decision making and implementation, can help you develop and execute a winning plan, guide your decision making and actions along the way, motivate you, and hold you accountable.

Why go it alone when you can have a coach who can help you go for the gold?

Read More
Do you measure up?
Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh

Do you measure up?

We have a problem. We are not wired well for the sustained, organized, separate effort needed to change and grow, to implement our plans, be they strategic or annual.

What I have uncovered on my now six-year deep dive into why we make big decisions poorly and what to do about that huge issue starkly highlights what derails our best intentions in implementing our plans.

Read More