The strategy book is divided into two main sections. The first is McKeown’s take on the important steps of strategy, starting with strategic thinking and moving forward to planning. The Strategy Book goes beyond simple planning models of picking a market position. While it covers this, there are also hat tips to emergent strategy thought leaders by warning organizations to stay flexible. The second half of the book offers a survey of strategy tools, starting with SWOT and including everything from Porter’s Five Forces to BCG’s growth share matrix.

It would be hyperbole to claim that McKeown’s The Strategy Book is the “know all, be all” of strategy. However, it’s not an understatement to claim that it may be the best starting point for learning to lead strategic.

Montgomery argues that strategy ought to be an act of leadership, and not the formulaic calculation it currently appears to be. She argues that sustainable strategy is a myth and that true strategists and leaders work on constantly shaping and cultivating their companies value proposition and purpose over a longer time frame. To add to her argument she brings in fascinating case studies such as Domenico De Sole’s incredible turnaround of Gucci and (yes it seems obligatory) Steve Jobs’ triumphant return, which left Apple better aligned with the direction of the consumer market.

Montgomery’s style is a beautiful blend of academic prose and practical lessons. At first glance, the book looks like dry, heavy stuff however it moves quickly and keeps you feeling positive and entertained. There are many books about strategy out there, and many more about leadership – however, The Strategist has done the body of literature a service by finally blending the two in a comprehensive, yet understandable manner.

Research from Heide Bruch and the late Sumantra Ghoshal discovered that managers are typically quite busy but that busyness is not from doing things right. In their study, “Management is the Art of Doing and Getting Done,” the researchers examined a variety of managers’ schedules for the presence of what they titled “purposeful action” – or actions that helped move the organization toward its strategic objective. They found that only about 10 percent of managers took purposeful action, the remainder fell into various categories of busy but ineffective activity (40 percent were energetic but unfocused; 30 percent had low energy; 10 percent were focused but not very energetic, the remainder failed to classify).

The good news for many senior leaders is the 40 percent who are energetic about their activity, but whose activity is unfocused and reactive. Most of their potentially productive time was spent reacting to small problems and working on minute details. These managers lack clear-cut direction on where to begin taking action or how to prioritize. They may just need to be reacquainted with the strategy. More likely, however, their lack of focus is due to an insufficiently understood strategy or a lack of clear strategic objectives.

The 40 percenters make a wonderful argument not just for the importance of strategy, but also for keeping strategy clear and helping everyone in the organization understand exactly what actions will help contribute to strategic objectives. Knowing this vital information should help more managers take purposeful action.

David Burkus is the editor of LeaderLab. He writes, speaks, and serves on the faculty of management at Oral Roberts University’s College of Business.

This is a guest post from Sean Conrad. Sean is a Certified Human Capital Strategist and Senior Product Analyst at Halogen Software, whose performance management software makes best-practice goal management simpler for leaders and employees. For more of his insights on talent management, read his posts on the Halogen Software blog.

One of the important roles of leaders is to set goals for their organization. In fact, some would argue it’s their most important function. Goals are what keep the organization moving, changing and reaching for more. Ideally, organizational goals should be what direct the efforts of every employee. Alas, that is often not the reality.

Why? Because many organizations and leaders are ineffective in setting and communicating organizational goals.

Here are some ways you can ensure your organizational goals are effective.

Make Organizational Goals Concrete and Measurable

It’s not uncommon to see organizational goals that are little more than slogans or vision statements; things like “Dominate the market” or “Beat the competition”. But these kinds of goals are hard for employees to align their efforts to because they’re not concrete. Organizational goals, as all other goals, are more effective when they describe the expected outcome in a measurable form. The aim is to create meaningful goals that employees can feel accountable for in some way. If they don’t understand what the organization is trying to achieve, and what success looks like, they won’t understand how they can contribute to the effort. Good leaders know that setting concrete, measurable goals for the organization is the first step to success.

Communicate Organizational Goals

Next, it’s important to communicate the organization’s goals to all employees. This is not an exercise you can do once. You need to do it repeatedly and consistently, to communicate leadership commitment and priority. Use multiple media and approaches. Make goals accessible and visible. Make sure very employee knows what they are.

Get Employees to Link their Individual Goals to Organizational Goals

If you want the organization to achieve its goals, you need to harness the passion, efforts and energy of every employee. The best way to do this is to challenge every employee to link their individual goals to the organization’s goals. Make it a part of your performance appraisal or goal setting process. Every employee should know how their work and role contribute to the organization’s success. This linking gives employees a larger context for their work, which is so important to engagement. As a leader, you should have visibility of employee goal alignment across the organization. Aligning your workforce in this way helps you see if the organization is well positioned to achieve its goals, or if priorities and efforts need to be realigned.

Revisit Organizational Goals Regularly and Communicate Progress

In some groundbreaking research in 2011*, leading talent management research and advisory services firm Bersin & Associates found that organization who revisit their goals at least quarterly, or even more frequently, dramatically outperform those who follow an annual cascading goal model. Regularly revisiting organizational goals allows you to be more nimble and stay responsive to a dynamic and changing environment.

Leaders should closely track progress on organizational goals, make any necessary adjustments to the goals, their priorities or assigned resources, and communicate progress, status and any changes to their workforce.

Conclusion

Strong leaders know how to harness the power of their workforce through effective goal management. They know that setting clear, concrete goals, communicating these, aligning employee goals with organizational goals, then tracking and communicating everyone’s progress is vital to success.

*Strategic HR and Talent Management: Predictions for 2012

Nope.

I still think they are boring and borderline useless. I still think consultants make too much money off of organizations’ planning efforts (it’s only okay if you hire me as your consultant). I still think they might do more to stifle creativity than inspire it. I still think those plans look really pretty on bookshelves. I still think Greenpeace should protest the number of trees killed each year by producing strategic plans. I still think they make great coffee coasters.

The next time you are in a strategic planning session, start adding up the salaries around the room, just for fun. For example, twenty people X $100/hr/person = $2000/hr. Is that planning session worth $2000 per hour?. That’s a rough estimate and it might be significantly more in many companies with high-salaried executives. It also doesn’t include consultant fees, travel costs, administrative costs, and production costs. If it takes a few days to generate, without even realizing it, a company can spend $100,000 or much more developing a strategic plan. Does that plan even recoup the cost of making it? Are there better things to spend $100,000 on?

I read books about Facebook and Google in the last few weeks, and I realized something. Both companies didn’t seem to spend any time, money, or effort strategic planning when they started. Ideas came first, action second. Where was strategic planning? Ummm…maybe the authors just forgot that part where the founders hired a consulting firm to map out their future and they produced a fancy document that outlined all the steps they would need to take to be extremely successful. Yep, I’m pretty sure the authors just forget that part. Or not.

As I wrote last year:

In our enthusiasm about the next fad in planning, do we forget to actually measure the value in strategic planning itself? How many dollars are wasted each year by planning exercises begrudgingly done by those involved? Does anyone dare ask whether we “Should” be planning and risk being labeled an organizational anarchist?

My questions still stand.

Tim Vanderpyl is a Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP) with Canada’s largest catholic healthcare organization. He holds a Master of Arts in Leadership from Trinity Western University and is working toward a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership at Regent University.

Here’s the point: When you know you will never be the low-cost producer nor will you ever have the resources to outspend the big cat, you find other ways to skin it – okay, that’s a bit of an overstatement. Clout allows these giants to grow, but there is absolutely no reason why a smaller player cannot become a market leader within their chosen market(s). As long as the “Davids” of the business world are able to resist the urge to become generalists by expanding into too many markets with too many products, they can win. I should know; I spent 17 years at Jacobs Suchard winning within the intensely competitive coffee and chocolate markets.

The secret to thriving against mega-company competition comes down to leadership of three potent armaments – strategy, creativity, and culture. Here are 10 ways to survive in a world where big keeps getting bigger:

1.  They are slow. You be fast.

2. They are bureaucratic. You be nimble.

3.  They are risk averse. You be entrepreneurial.

4. They are fact-centric; the more the better. You make decisions when you have most, but not all of the information; that affords the “first-in” advantage.

5.  They are generalists. You be specialists.

6. They value doing things right. You value doing right things.

7.  They grow by doing more and more. You grow by doing less, better.

8. They are conventional and reactive. You be distinctive and farsighted.

9. They are obsessed with efficiencies and processes. You be obsessed with innovation.

10.   They leverage their financial resources. You leverage your creativity.

If your company is suffering the clout of a giant, I suggest you rank your performance against these 10 commandments of giant-slaying. Undoubtedly, you will come up short. Change won’t happen overnight because you are likely facing a shift in corporate culture. Achieving the right culture is possible, but it seldom happens unless the organization is blessed with a strong and tenacious CEO who passionately practices the tenets of entrepreneurial leadership.

John Bell is a strategy consultant and former CEO of Jacobs Suchard (Kraft, Nabob). He is a contributor to Fortune magazine and a regular blogger at CEO Afterlife.

Fortunately for me, I grew up in strategic environments and I learned to balance operational challenges with strategic opportunity. Many senior managers haven’t the foggiest idea how to do this. These are the folks who don’t know the difference between strategy and tactics – those who view strategy as a needless constraint. They want to leave their options open, unknowingly falling into a spiral of inconsistent decision-making and endless debate over solutions to short-term problems. No matter how often you preach the value of narrowing market scope or reducing the product line or the number of stock-keeping units, they remain unconvinced.

Ironically, sticking to a well-conceived strategy makes decisions easy. Many have never lived through strategy’s positive effects. Some don’t understand strategy, or lack the confidence to be bound by one. Confidence (or lack thereof) is easy to spot. I was once asked to help craft the corporate strategy for a company engaged in so many businesses that the enterprise was incapable of excelling in any of them. When I proposed divesting a couple of them, the CEO was horrified. “You have to understand,” he said. “The reason for all those fingers in the pie is because we don’t want to miss an opportunity.” As you might imagine, I didn’t have much luck convincing him that his “all things to all people” approach restricts opportunity. Ten years later, the company was in receivership.

I recognize that there are many people in leadership positions who desperately want to be more strategic. I also know that sticking to strategy isn’t always easy to do, especially when the heat is on. If this describes you, the trick is to discipline yourself to think strategically, and find the courage of your convictions. Ultimately, the less pressure you feel from day-to-day issues, the better the opportunity to think and act strategically. Here’s some of the ways I was able to deflect pressure:

1.   Manage the Future. This is at the heart of good strategic planning. Instead of reacting to the future, develop a strategy that defines the future based on your actions.

2.   Be Proactive. Lead the market with a strategic initiative. If the move impacts the market positively, your competitors will be the ones reacting. Ultimate success comes from establishing new rules to the competitive game.

3.   Plan for Rainy Days. The rainy day fund or an optional source of new revenue can offset tough times that compromise the strategy. The trick is to define a rainy day plan that strengthens the balance sheet.

4.   Manage Expectations. This isn’t budget sandbagging; it is prudent management. Set a growth agenda, but make sure it is achievable.

5.   Accept the fact that Strategy takes Courage. Without courage you will always “fold” when the going gets tough.

John Bell is a strategy consultant and former CEO of Jacobs Suchard (Kraft, Nabob). He is a contributor to Fortune magazine and a regular blogger at CEO Afterlife.