HBR Guide to Setting Your Strategy

Introduction. Get the strategy you need - now: how strategy has evolved, and why we need it -- Section One. What is strategy?: Defining strategy, implementation, and execution - they involve different activities, tools, and people / by Ken Favaro -- 5 myths about strategy and why they're wrong / by Stephen Bungay -- Your strategic plans probably aren't strategic, or even plans - distinguish between objectives, strategies, and actions / by Graham Kenny -- Section Two. Lay the foundation: Your strategy needs a strategy - consider the circumstances in which you're operating / by Martin Reeves, Claire Love, and Philipp Tillmanns -- The different approaches firms use to set strategy - two factors can help you define your process / by Kimberly Teti, Mu-Jeung Yang, Nicholas Bloom, Jan W. Rivkin, and Raffaella Sadun -- 6 tips for running offsites that aren't a waste of time - understand your objectives-before you get in the room / by Melissa Raffoni -- Stakeholders first, strategy second - recognize what you want from them and what they want from you / by Graham Kenny -- Section Three. Develop your strategy: Strategy needs creativity - four approaches to building a breakthrough strategy / by Adam Brandenburger -- Five questions to build a strategy - where will we play? how will we win? / by Roger L. Martin -- Four types of competition that can threaten your company - maintain your competitive edge / by Carsten Lund Pedersen and Thomas Ritter -- How to do strategic planning like a futurist - stop fearing the long term / by Amy Webb -- Ecosystem businesses are changing the rules of strategy - by understanding how they operate, you'll be better positioned to compete / by Julian Birkinshaw -- Put purpose at the core of your strategy - reshape your value proposition / by Thomas W. Malnight, Ivy Buche, and Charles Dhanaraj -- Section Four. Test your strategic choices: 4 ways to pressure-test your strategy - assign a team to poke holes in it / by Rick Lynch and Jay Galeota -- Which strategy "comfort traps" are you falling into? - and the remedies to get out of them / by Roger L. Martin -- Identify the new capabilities you need - build skill development into your plan / by Ron Ashkenas and Logan Chandler -- A simple way to test your company's strategic alignment - at both the team and the enterprise levels / by Jonathan Trevor and Barry Varcoe -- Section Five. Communicate your strategy: Leading change and strategic transitions - how to communicate your new strategy to employees -- Explain your new strategy by emphasizing what it isn't - clarify the projects you won't do / by Nick Tasler -- Discussing strategy across cultures - diverse teams come with diverse strategic viewpoints / by Leonard M. Fuld -- Section Six. Execute the strategy and learn from it: Your strategy should be a hypothesis you constantly adjust - gaps in execution may mean revising your strategy / by Amy C. Edmondson and Paul J. Verdin -- Your strategy has to be flexible-but so does your execution - eight common execution traps / by Martin Reeves and Rudolphe Charme di Carlo -- Stop letting quarterly numbers dictate your strategy - when short-term metrics keep you from winning in the long-term / by David Hersh -- Strategy is all about practice - work, work, and work some more / by Roger L. Martin.