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Consistency and Reality are the core deliverables of Competitive Advantage. If you tell a customer (client) that they should buy from your organization (or use your organization, if nonprofit) because you do X, Y, and Z that make your offering a TRUE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE, then you must deliver on the promise! Every time an employee…

I would be hard-pressed to find an executive at virtually any organization who would say that they don’t have a strategy. In fact, many leaders get quite defensive when you suggest that what they have just espoused as their strategy is really just a wish list made up of KPIs they want to achieve. “Leadership…

It is shocking how many companies seem to truly believe that their current customer service operation is a competitive advantage. The drumbeat of customer service as a strategic differentiator is used by virtually every organization and vehemently defended when confronted with reality. While it is certainly politically correct and seems to actually make sense, this…

Many people discovered that there were multiple paths to their career goals that did not include commuting to a central building every day. Of course, people work for an organization for all the classic reasons: money, status, good working conditions, responsibility, a sense of belonging, community, and did I mention money? However, these things are…

I usually don’t have to wait long for someone to post about how “Culture Eats Strategy” on LinkedIn (or see it in a presentation about how to run a business). This usually comes along with an attempt to give it legitimacy by crediting it to Peter Drucker. The clear implication from the folks who purport…

Amazon recently announced the acquisition of MGM Studios for $8.45 billion, providing Amazon Prime Video with more than 4,000 films and 17,000 TV shows. This is a solid strategy move at a bargain price that keeps Amazon ‘in the game’ on a rapidly expanding customer expectation axis that is being driven by competitors trying to…

The cliché that so many business executives seem to believe goes to the core of how we operate a business successfully. It goes something like, “To get something done, you must act.” It is hard to disagree with that statement when we know that strategy only matters when implemented, and most people resist change. However,…

Some CEOs see their role as one of providing so-called BHAG’s. They set high bars and then “turn their people loose.” The concept sounds great, the goals look inspiring, and if the structures are in place in the organization, some magic might accidentally happen. Unfortunately, this is NOT the case in most organizations, and magic…

“My people are my competitive advantage, and I can prove it.” This statement is the response I often receive when I challenge an executive to describe their main competitive advantage. It is undoubtedly the most politically correct statement that one can make. Unfortunately, your employees are not smarter, more capable, better looking, or nicer than…

Strategy is a problematic issue for Executives to formulate, and it is even more challenging to implement. Many confuse tactics with strategy. Even more believe that pithy, BHAG’s will pass for strategy. They DON’T! With this as a backdrop, I’m often asked by Executives and my Duke (Fuqua) students if there are great books on…