Execution: The biggest challenge for businesses today

According to the 2007 Conference Board study, the top pain points for CEOs were excellence in execution and consistent execution on company strategy. However, I am still hearing from CEOs that building an organization that can effectively plan and execute, while at the same time, overcoming the inevitable surprises in business still remains one of the biggest challenges today. It is not surprising that in a recent Executive Outlook survey one of the biggest contributors to industries recovering is “better execution of strategy” –

Consider the following as you plan for the future.

The world is moving much faster today and the way the world is at this moment in time will not be the same a year from now. We are living in an exponential world. An exponential rate of change put on a graph would not appear as a straight line but as a curve that continually gets steeper and steeper.

As Gary Harpst clearly states in his new book Six Disciplines. Execution Revolution, “Leaders who build organizations with the ability to balance strategy with strong execution over long periods of time achieve enduring excellence.”

Whatever challenges your company is experiencing today, these challenges will be different and bigger tomorrow so it’s vital that you take control and prepare now.