Stephen Bungay on Strategy and the Art of Execution
About Stephen Bungay
Stephen Bungay is a Director at the Strategic Management Center, where he teaches programs on strategic decisions and translating strategy into action. He's also a sought-after conference speaker on topics related to strategy, leadership, and driving through disruption. Before joining Ashridge, Stephen was a Vice President and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group, where his clients ranged from Shell Oil to the Elite Mercedes F1 racing team. His interest in strategy led him to publish two books on military history that garnered him expert historian status. His most recent book—the Art of Execution—really caught our attention. In it, he shares lessons on how leaders thrive through high disruption environments based on a study of military history. If you're trying to make sense of all the different frameworks for how to think about strategy and how to tie that to execution, this is a great source.
Concepts
0:00 - Introduction
1:50 - Individual genius vs organizational capability
14:35 - The formula for successful execution
18:34 - Tactical vs strategic change
20:18 - Check-in cadence
21:22 - Operating rhythms at the extremes
24:54 - Execution challenges teams have
27:14 - What holds CEOs back?
Links
Stephen’s book
Stephen on Social & More
Other Sessions
Cameron Herold, Founder of COO Alliance, successfully scaled 3 companies past $60mm
TK Kader, Founder and CEO of Unstoppable, ToutApp (A16z), SVP Strategy at Marketo, Adobe;
Jason McCann, CEO of Vari
Will Bunker, Co-founder OneAndOnly (now Match.com), VChatter, President; GrowthX co-founder; investor in 160+ tech companies, 5 exits
Arjun Dev Aurora, Founder and CEO Retargeter; Founder, Valence; Nike, Investment Committee