The “execution piece” (or lack thereof) is exactly what drew me back into business from retirement. First advising early-stage companies as an Angel Investor, then progressing to larger organizations as an Advisor.

I was seeing too many good businesses and innovative ideas struggling with growth, performing well below their potential, or finding owners ‘stuck in the weeds’. I kept seeing businesses that, frankly, deserved better success than they were achieving;

I kept hearing a lot of talk about vision and strategy, but very little action. Businesses that actually HAD strategies were starting out with the best of intensions and high-energy, but always seemed to lose steam or get distracted within a month or two;

I was sometimes appalled at how long it was taking business advisors or coaching systems to identify and act on the issues that were holding these businesses back – sometimes weeks, even months. I knew there was a better way, and that all most business owners needed was an easy-to-use process to help them and their team get it done in a disciplined and sustained way.

After watching or working with many high-potential companies, I began to see at least 3 consistent attributes amongst those most successful:

1. An ambitious & measurable goal, with a clear deadline
2. Actions & resources prioritized on highest impact
3. A consistent, sustained sense of urgency, discipline and accountability

In my own experience, creation of the strategy is the easy part. The hardest part by far – and the most critical – is the execution piece (#2 & #3 above).
Even with the best of intentions or the highest energy levels at the onset, business execution is fraught with distractions or changes from all directions and levels – which invariably ‘derails’ sustained execution. We have learned that the magic of effective execution is to shorten the cadence into weekly actions and accountability, and to maintain focus on the highest-impact priorities. As derailments and distractions inevitably happen, weekly cadence has saved us time and time again from prolonged distraction and has got our action plans back ‘on track’ within days rather than weeks or months.

There is more than enough ‘academic’ advice available to companies today. What companies REALLY need is ‘practical’ support – a disciplined process and/or Advisor to work with them shoulder-to-shoulder to help get it done.

Without intending it to, my consulting career has been devoted to startups, turnarounds and hopeless cases. As I grew older, I learned to recognize the latter much earlier in the game.

I don’t think a consultant can expect any permanent results unless he/she has actual authority from C-level management to work within the organization and implement the recommended courses of action, for however long that takes. And with the visible support of the C-levels. Even then, those whose fiefdoms are threatened will do their best to sabotage the effort. On the latter subject, I speak from personal experience with an institution of higher learning that Mr Berkus knows well.

If a consultant presents his/her plan without the visible support of top management, audience members will be looking at their watches and going “Yeah, yeah… what time did you say your flight was?”

I think hiring consulting firms that only provide strategy is a huge waste of money. Hands-on implementation, ideally by the consulting firm working in tandem with the client’s internal resources, will have a much more lasting effect. Even then, any changes that are implemented will generally not have a shelf life much longer than 5 years. Strategic plans that are immediately put on the shelf, on the other hand, have a permanent shelf life.

I’ve done my share of consulting gigs, primarily with start-ups or businesses that are making a major shift in their product or service and market segments. The consulting challenge is too often how the business management will accept criticism or as you have pointed out accept change. The consulting key, as some have mentioned, is to do more than identifying the changes that are needed, but to provide the solution and set a timeline that requires measured results and scheduled reevaluation on status.

A consultant can’t just provide a report and walk away! It’s the old story; A consultant will borrow your watch and sell it back to you. I guess the question today, is What is a watch?

From the neo-tropics where highly developed stunting bureaucracy ensures the status quo remains just peachy keen and optimized “just so” to not effect the future in any way.