Strategy That Works: How Winning Companies Close the Strategy-to-Execution Gap

The second book I recommend is a relatively new book: Strategy That Works: How Winning Companies Close the Strategy-to-Execution Gap by Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi. This is definitely a deeper dive into strategy and I like it because it addresses the strategy/execution gap by highlighting the need for a company to focus on capabilities. The authors identify five business practices that create a gap between strategy and execution. In contrast (using several examples), the authors assert that winning companies:

1. Commit to what they do best instead of chasing multiple opportunities
2. Build their own unique winning capabilities instead of copying others
3. Put their culture to work instead of struggling to change it
4. Invest where it matters instead of going lean across the board
5. Shape the future instead of reacting to it.

The book includes very practical tools.