Richard Rierson from Dose of Leadership presented "Closing the Gap Between Strategic Development & Strategic Execution" at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce's March 2015 Sunrise Scrambler.

1. Closing the Gap Between
Strategic Development &
Strategic Execution
March 18th, 2015

2. USMC Philosophy
• Ultimate culture of Leadership
• Everyone trained to act as a leader
• Decentralized decision making
• Ask for “Forgiveness” not
“Permission”
• Focus on how to thrive within chaos

3. 19th & 20th Century
Management Thinking
• Industrial Revolution
• Factories were built around
“machines”
• People were “cogs” of the machine
• Management kept them “well-oiled”

4. Frederick Winslow
Taylor
• Leader of the “Efficiency Movement”
• Mechanical Engineer
• “The Principles of Scientific
Management”

5. • “It’s possible to know all you
need to know…to be able to
plan what we do.”
• “Management & workers should
be separated.”
• “There is but one right way.”

6. Frederick Winslow
Taylor
“I can say, without the slightest
hesitation, that the science of handling
pig-iron is so great that the man who
is…physically able to handle the pig-
iron, and is sufficiently phlegmatic and
stupid to choose this for his
occupation, is rarely able to
comprehend the science of handling
pig-iron.”

7. Scientific Management
Theory
• Has revolutionized professional management
• Good for squeezing out efficiencies in “menial”
tasks
• Doesn’t work so well for “dynamic & fluid”
environments

8. Field Marshal
Helmuth Von
Moltke
• 19th Century Leader & Teacher of
German Generals
• Leadership & Management expert
• Huge supporter of “independent
action by subordinates”
• Introduced the concept of
“Commander’s Intent” as a strategy
• “Guidance for Large Unit
Commanders” - 1869

9. Guidance For Unit
commanders
• No plan survives first contact with the
enemy.
• Perfect planning is an impossibility
• Unleash subordinate initiative to address
the unexpected & to capitalize on
opportunity

10. Guidance For Unit
commanders
“With darkness all around you, you have to
develop a feeling for what is right…often
based on a little more than guesswork….
In this fog of uncertainty, the one thing that
must be certain is your decision…the
surest way of achieving your goal is
through the single minded pursuit of simple
action.”

11. Guidance For Unit
commanders
“There are numerous situations in which an
officer must act on his own judgment…
For an officer to wait for orders at times
when none can be given would be quite
absurd.”

12. DETAIL & CONTROL
IS NOT THE ANSWER

13. DETAIL IS NOT THE
SAME AS CLARITY…
IN FACT, IT IS THE
ENEMY…

14. Instead of detailed plans…
• Focus on Clarity & Alignment
• The more Alignment created…the more Autonomy
granted
• Alignment is achieved around what to achieve & why
• Autonomy is granted around what to do & how

15. The result…
• An Intelligent Organization
• Does not depend on being led by a “charismatic genius”
• Raises the performance of everyone
• Allows corrections…even if plan is flawed
• Strategic Planning & Execution becomes a “distinction
without a difference”

16. Takeaways…
Decide WHAT is really important
• You can’t create perfect plans…so don’t even try
• Create & communicate outcomes you want to
achieve
• Formulate a strategy as an “intent” not a “plan”

17. Takeaways…
Get the message across
• Communicate outcomes; what to achieve & why
• Leave the “how” up to them
• Introduce accountability & ownership (back-brief)
• Decentralized decision making
• Encourage asking for “forgiveness” instead of
“permission”

18. Takeaways…
Give people tools, time, & support
• Define boundaries & resources; Then get out of the
way
• Non-fatal mistakes are ok
• Encourage people to adapt actions to meet intent
• Work outcomes…not the “plan”

19. Commander’s Intent

20. Culture eats
strategy for
lunch