Knowledge has become a commodity. It’s easy to access and there is far more of it than we can digest. We can generalize and say that today most businesses have about (or can access) the same amount of information. If you believe this (based on our experience we do), then why don’t all businesses perform equally as well? The answer we’ve found is that they don’t do very much with the information they have – they fail to execute.
The Knowing-Doing Gap isn’t created by the lack of information; it’s created by the inability to use that information in a way that materially helps your business.
And the Knowing-Doing Gap is endemic in organizations. It’s supported and perpetuated by the “the experts”. Whether they are executives, managers or consultants. They are the people with the knowledge; they are the people who know how things should be done; they are the people that have the answers. They are also the people who, after the retreat or after the meeting go back to their offices and assume the heavy lifting has been done. It’s now someone else’s job to do it. The plan after all has been made, the strategy set – now for the easy part – implement it.
Successful organizations, growing organizations, market leaders are simply better at doing. To paraphrase (very liberally) General George S. Patton: a good plan executed well is better than a great plan executed poorly.
If you want to differentiate your business or yourself, if you want to find a competitive edge – you need to execute well – swiftly and consistently. And it doesn’t matter if you are a solo practitioner, a small business or an international conglomerate – execution is the key to business success.
Our call: “While knowledge is great; Results trump knowledge”.
On Thursday we will provide insights into what you need to overcome to become a company that executes well.
Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest
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