It is near impossible for CEOs to hedge against the Black Swan events that topple businesses. Yet a disproportionate amount of business failure can be attributed to a factor well within the CEO's influence: execution.
When strong strategies fail
History offers high-profile examples of companies with strong strategies that failed to execute them — Enron, Kodak and Xerox among them. Kodak invented the modern digital camera but failed to capitalise on it. Xerox developed an early personal computer with a graphical user interface, but did not capture the commercial opportunity later seized by Apple and Microsoft.
Executional excellence elevates companies from good to great
Conversely, many great companies emerged not only from superior ideas but from synergised teams aligned with the business strategy and able to translate ideas into tangible commercial success.
Airbnb's founders pivoted an early idea to meet untapped demand. Google's founders built an execution team from engineers and evolved the team structure over time as the company grew. In both cases the idea mattered, but the team that executed it mattered more.
A renewed focus on executional excellence helps organisations survive difficult times and seize the growth opportunities created by pandemic disruption and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
References
- Fortune (27 May 2002), “Why Companies Fail.”
- Forbes (18 January 2012), “How Kodak Failed.”
- Harvard Business Review (4 October 2012), “Big Companies Can’t Innovate Halfway.”
- Business Insider (20 September 2019), Airbnb founding history.
- Harvard Business Review (December 2013), “How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management.”