8 Posts found for Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery

A Harvard Business School professor observes that leaders become better strategists by engaging in conversations about the purpose of a company.

Content: Thought Leader | Authors: Art Kleiner, Cynthia A. Montgomery, Ken Favaro | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Strategy

For many leaders, there’s an immense gap between intellectually understanding the theory of strategy and being able to apply it in their own businesses. It’s only by directly engaging in strategy themselves that most leaders internalize the important questions and get a clear sense of what’s involved—the trade-offs, choices, commitments, and actions—in bringing a strategy to life.

Content: Quotation | Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Strategy

The existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote about the “courage to choose,” and understood that choosing isn’t just an intellectual thing; it takes guts.

Content: Quotation | Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Decision Making

I’m trying to get people excited about being strategists and to see why it’s a distinctive way that they as leaders can add value to their businesses. I’m also trying to help them understand that strategy is far more than an idea. There’s a conundrum you sometimes hear in business school: “Would you rather have a brilliant, fully worked-out strategy and poor execution, or a … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Strategy

Robert Katz, who wrote a classic article called “Skills of an Effective Administrator” [Harvard Business Review, September 1974], said that when you start your career, to succeed, you need a functional skill: For example, you need to be good at accounting, engineering, or HR. At the next level up, you need to be good with people. And at the very top, you need conceptual skills. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Career

A Harvard Business School professor reflects on what she has learned from senior executives about the unique value that strategic leaders can bring to their companies.

Content: Article | Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Strategy

A lot of companies get into strategy creep. They just keep adding technologies, adding services, adding customers they’d like to serve. The cost of breadth is often edge–you lose sight of the thing that makes you different.

Content: Quotation | Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subject: Strategy

Strategy is not just a plan, not just an idea; it is a way of life for a company. Strategy doesn’t just position a firm in its external landscape; it defines what a firm will be. Watching over strategy day in and day out is not only a CEO’s greatest opportunity to outwit the competition; it is also his or her greatest opportunity to shape … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Cynthia A. Montgomery | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Strategy