Find (and Keep) Top Talent for Your Business (Collection), 2/e

10Ignition Point 5: The Strategy

The Problem with Strategy

Strategy is one of those big concepts that people in business feel obliged to pay homage to. In part, it’s a matter of hierarchy and power. Corporations today pay millions to the men and women in their very top echelons, the folks who breathe the rarefied air of the C-suite. And what exactly do they do to earn those big bucks? Their central focus is usually the overall direction of the firm—in other words, its strategy.

But the truth about strategy is that strategy is often more pull than push. Traditional strategy is shaped in the boardroom, but real strategy—often called emergent strategy— takes shape on the street. You open a cafe decorated with gorgeous art and find that your customers ...