Marketing: Fun and Useful – try now!

I am involved in several situations at the moment where I see the disconnect between strategy and implementation of the intended strategy. Firstly, let me say that “strategy” is one of the most over-used, abused, diluted words in business. It seems that every job title is framed as “strategic” and many people are happier to “strategize” than to actually make things happen. There is no doubt that strategy is important, but tactics and the simple hard work, effort, sweat and hours of implementing the agreed upon strategy should not be overlooked or under appreciated. What I see is a culture of meetings, e-mails and pushing around of data and responsibility – putting off the apparently hard work of getting things done. Elapse time on projects becomes far greater than actual time required, and procrastination and inefficiency lose the day. So, hear is a shout out for those that “do” – those that are pro-active, get away from their laptops and from meetings and do some of the less glamorous work that actually makes a difference, and makes strategy itself meaningful as implementation steps are taken. So, before you go back to e-mails and meetings – think about what part of your day involved tangible progress on making something happen.