Michael Porter on Strategy Excution

A while back, The Wharton School published an article on strategy formulation, from Michael E. Porter, director of Harvard's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.

Porter's insights on strategy and execution? 

• Managers need to develop a clear strategy around their company's unique place in the market (and not worry as much about creating strategy to compete head-on with other companies.)
• Many, if not most, strategic errors come from within. The company does it to itself.
• The worst error is to compete with your competition on the same things.
• "Strategy' is a word that gets used in so many ways with so many meanings that it can end up being meaningless. Often corporate executives will confuse strategy with aspiration.
• Companies hoping to build a successful strategy need to define the right industry and the right products and services. Bad strategy often flows from a bad definition of the business. 
• Continuity is critical to successful strategy. If you don't do it often, it's not strategy. If you don't pursue a direction for two or three years, it's meaningless.
• Strategy is not something that is done in a bottom-up consensus process. The companies with really good strategy almost universally have a very strong CEO, somebody who is not afraid to lead, to make choices, to make decisions." Strategy is challenged every day, and only a strong leader can remain on course when confronted with well-intentioned ideas that would deviate from the company's strategy. You need a leader with a lot of confidence, a lot of conviction and a leader who is really good at communication.

BOTTOMLINE:  According to Porter: "Years ago, corporate strategy was considered a secret known only by top executives for fear competitors might use the information to their advantage. Now it is important for everyone in the organization to understand the strategy and align everything they do with that strategy every day."