Welcome
I am fascinated by business strategy and its execution – at how simple it can be and how mind numbingly difficult and frustrating we tend to make it. This blog is about what business strategy looks like in real life and how to recognize when real progress is being made. We’ll talk about how to start with a vision and realize it day by day and piece by piece. I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to learn by doing and by observing why and how things work. I’ve been even more fortunate to work for and with many gifted people over the years and to have been able to hear what they have to say and, more importantly, watch what they do. Through all this I’ve come to learn in an empirical way that the true drivers of success and failure are not always what seems obvious at first glance. In fact, it is uncovering the real drivers and utilizing them that fascinates me so. It can sometimes seem so counter-intuitive until that wonderful aha! moment when a principle reveals itself in all its glorious simplicity.
I’d like to say that I will start at the beginning and lay out a methodical path to a Realized Vision, but I know that won’t happen. I will start with a series of four articles on building your strategy (they are listed on the right). They were written with the idea that the order presents a logical flow, but that’s just me. From there I will jump in with topics that inspire me and sort it out as we go along. Of course, I hope that you’ll help me by commenting and looking at these posts with fresh eyes and a perspective that is new to me. Feel free to post a link to your own thoughts and articles. If this works out, I hope to share a little and learn a lot. Here goes..
– Len Cavallaro
View Len Cavallaro’s profileAugust 2012
Len – you have my attention! The vision is always the first step, awareness of one’s gifts is another, confidence is major (after all, how many have a vision but don’t think they can or even worse, don’t believe they are worthy of success), and a support team to help a person achieve their vision.
I will be reading and following you.
Melody,
Thanks for having a look. I just finished the last of the four articles I wanted to be the foundation of the blog. It’s on execution and it’s a bit long. I celebrated with a mercifully short post that’s in tune with the election season.
— Len
Len, looking forward to following your posts. A wise man once told me you can’t plan your route if you don’t know where you’re trying to go. Too many times leaders and organizations don’t have a clear vision which means their strategy becomes like a book of the month club, each month it’s something new. Having a clear vision and then having the discipline to stick to the strategy in route to achieving that vision can be a sometimes frustrating but exciting time. Glad you started this blog and look forward to some interesting discussions.
Dave
Thanks for having a look. I just finished the last of the “foundational” articles on execution. These are subjects you know well and many of the insights were ones we stumbled on together the hard way!
Len,
This is an important topic! I look forward to hearing more about your views on business strategy. I am definitely interested in knowing more.
Jackie
Jackie,
I appreciate your reading through it. I just posted the last of the four “foundational” articles (on execution). I tired to maintain a bit of discipline and a thread through those four. Now I’ll just rattle on randomly – and with shorter posts. Hope things are going well with at SLICA