I was at a presentation where Robin Speculand, Singapore-based author, and speaker, asked:

Is it better to have a great strategy implemented badly or a bad strategy implemented well?

Most people – about 4 out of 5 – raised their hand for the latter option. I raised mine for the former.

We had a bit of debate about the whole thing, and most people felt it would be more desirable to have a great strategy implemented badly, as at least you would be heading in the right direction. Wrong. A great strategy implemented badly is no strategy at all, because you haven’t executed. You’ve done nothing. You’re moving nowhere. At least a bad strategy implemented well has got you moving, and you can change the strategy as you go along.

Robin then pointed out the stupidity of the question anyway, as who rolls out a bad strategy? There are no bad strategies at the time they are announced. They’re just bad strategies in hindsight, when you see what else is happening.

What bank CEO will gather his people and say: “here’s my strategy for the bank; I know it’s rubbish, but bear with me”. No. Of course not. Everyone starts with a great strategy they think. They only know it’s bad or great after the fact however. Do you think the CEOs of Nokia or Kodak consciously said that a great strategy would be to ignore the iPhone and the digital cameras? Let’s just plod on doing what we’ve always done. Of course not. They just didn’t see how overwhelmingly compelling the new kids on the block were.

Equally, according to Robin, two-thirds of strategies never get implemented. They are announced in a great fanfare, and then the leadership team think that it’ll get done. I’ve never seen a company with a strategy get that strategy implemented without the leadership team being fully engaged.

And I guess this is where I’m coming from when I keep having a go at banks leadership teams being fundamentally flawed. First, their strategies for digital transformation must be formed with a strong technology leadership input. That means there must be a C-level member(s) who has professional technology experience as part of the digital transformation program and strategy team. Second, all of the leadership team must be engaged in the strategy and make it happen.