‘Are you a strategy or an execution person?’

I used to ask this as an interview question, looking for the answer:  Yes.

Because neither one works without the other.

Solid execution is the price of entry to getting to do strategy.  But execution doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it’s meaningless if not in the service of a valid strategy.

There’s significant creativity involved in both.  Both benefit from thoughtful analysis and structure, as well.

What we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and how we’re doing it—they all need to fit together.

Strategies suggest how they can be achieved, as we elaborate them.  We can see this in, for example, major market or line extensions, in new product introductions.  

Operations and execution, well-done, provide new options to drive a strategy.  We can see this in companies that use logistics and economies of scale on the execution side.  That becomes a barrier to entry, which then informs the strategy.

We can see this in ourselves when we have clear values and goals that are meaningful to us.  And we have the discipline to execute and persevere in the face of obstacles.

-Chris