Strategic Execution - Winning the War
Why can't we run our business with the precision that the U.S. ran Operation Desert Storm, the "First Gulf War"? You can, provided you remain true to three basic principles.
- You must have a clear motivating mission. The mission of the First Gulf War was to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait; period. Contrast this to the moving target of the Second Gulf War -- to destroy Al Qaida, to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, to round up Saddam Hussein and his team, to implant democracy into the Middle East. No one ever really understood what the Iraq War was all about.
- You must involve and connect with all your stakeholders. Recall, well before Operation Desert Storm got underway, the U.S. was working 'the audience'. The government's initial 'sale' was to the United Nations and key members of Arab League, notably Saudi Arabia. Only after these bodies became convinced that Iraq's incursion into Kuwait was a threat to regional stability did the U.S. turn to the American people and Congress for support.
- You must convert motives into action through focus. The leaders of Operation Desert Storm did so brilliantly through their orchestration of air, naval and ground operations. Remember those missiles taking out supply-line bridges right behind motoring Iraqis. Recall that it took hours -- not days, not weeks -- for the military to shut down those manifolds that were spilling oil into the Persian Gulf.
If you are concerned that your organization is losing the war, then it's time to revisit the principles that made Operation Desert Storm so successful. Waypoint’s strategic assessment model was built from the lessons of the First Gulf War.
