Greg Githens is Vice President Strategic Initiatives and Innovation. He helps executives turn vision into results and is available for short- and long-term leadership.-
Read these recent articles
- Strategic Leadership is “Replacing Old Stories with New Stories”
- Accountability is the Willingness to Have Your Performance Measured
- Three Tips for Leading Strategic Alliances
- Don’t Ask About Deadlines and Due Dates
- Launching a Strategic Initiative? Here are Three Good Practices
- B.A.R.E.D. – Five Domains for Program Management Performance
- Strategy Execution Priority #1: Effectively Communicate Strategic Decision(s)
- Strategic Initiatives Case Study: Best Buy’s “Renew Blue” Turnaround
- The Business Value Proposition
- Strategic Thinking: Seven Questions for Your New Year’s Resolution
- Use Small Wins to Attract Allies To Your Strategic Initiative (and Overcome Shabby Thinking)
- Strategic Initiatives | What Are the Metrics That Matter?
- S.T.I.C.C. – A Useful Communication Tool for Critical Situations
- The “20%-of-Your-Time” Rule-of-Thumb
- That’s the Fact, Jack: Data Drive Strategic Initiatives
- A Simple Idea that Every Good Strategist Knows
- Apple versus Samsung: Three Lessons for Strategic Initiative Leaders
- Four Things Strategic Initiative Leaders Need to Know About Requirements
- The “Call to Action:” A Useful Leadership Tool
- Strategic Initiative Steering Teams: A Sharp or Dull Blade?
- Identify Performance Gaps and Get Out of the Rut of Solutioneering
- The Job of the Program Manager is to…..
- Use the Prospective Hindsight Technique to Improve Your Vision Statements and Story Telling
- The Purpose of a Strategic Initiative is Closing a Performance Gap
- How to Develop Completion Criteria and Success Metrics
- Ask Informed Questions
- How to Identify Strategic Assumptions
- Strategic Initiative Case Study: Intel’s Product Development Turnaround
- Strategic Initiatives | Are You Ready to Implement?
- Incremental Benefits Delivery: The Key to Sustaining Commitment to Strategy
- The Strategic Initiative Leader: The #1 Success Factor!
- Strategic Initiatives | Executive Sponsor Roles, Power, & Politics
- Know The “Follow-The-Money” Story. How was Your Strategic Initiative Funded?
- Path Finding and Way Finding
- A Powerful Idea for Your Strategic Initiative: Program = Brand = Trust
- Case Study: Strategic Initiative Kickoff in a Global Joint Venture
- Five Rules for Managing Complex Strategic Initiatives
Talk to the Expert
Need a strategic planning facilitator, implementation coach, neutral mediator, workshop, seminar, or hands-on program manager? Greg Githens provides coaching, workshops, hands-on, and more. Contact him at GregoryDGithens@cs.com or 419.424.1164Categories
- Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders
- Examples of Strategic Initiatives
- How to Improve Your Story Telling Chops
- Incremental Benefits Delivery
- Interpreting Strategy Documents
- Program & Portfolio Management
- Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives
- Strategy Coaching and Facilitation
- Strategy, Ambiguity, and Strong-Minded Thinking
- Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
- Transforming the Organization
- Useful Practices & Management Tools
Category Archives: Examples of Strategic Initiatives
Launching a Strategic Initiative? Here are Three Good Practices
Observations of a new product development kickoff strategic initiative. Cultural challenges make the natural ambiguity of strategy even more difficult. Three good practices are 1. travel the world and get in front of stakeholders, 2. Identify key contributors and help them step up, 3. Initial milestones are guidelines; not millstones around your neck. Continue reading
B.A.R.E.D. – Five Domains for Program Management Performance
Program management performance domains can be understood as B.A.R.E.D: Benefits, Alignment, Roadmapping, Engagement, and Decisions. The article illustrates how BARED is applied in Wal-Mart’s strategic initiative for sustainable operations in China. Continue reading
Strategy Execution Priority #1: Effectively Communicate Strategic Decision(s)
Executives say that the top priority for strategy execution is to effectively communicate the decisions made. Three examples of good communications are provided. The basic message to the reader is to think through the announcement process. Continue reading
Strategic Initiatives Case Study: Best Buy’s “Renew Blue” Turnaround
Renew Blue is the name of a strategic initiative intended to reverse the competitive decline of Best Buy. This article analyzes the initiative’s strategy and raises questions about the correctness of the situation diagnosis. It examines the Renew Blue vision & strategic pillars, and concludes with a list of 7 learnings for leaders of strategic initiatives. Continue reading
The Business Value Proposition
Leaders of strategic initiatives need to have a working knowledge of the various perspectives on value propositions because organizations often charter strategic initiatives to close the gap (or create advantage) on value propositions. Using Best Buy’s Renew Blue strategic initiative, Greg Githens describes the business canvas approach and VALiD approaches to understanding value propositions. Continue reading
Ask Informed Questions
Informed questions are grounded in existing relevant knowledge, and help to expand strategic knowledge. The article explains preparation (including useful questions for reflection) and the discovery phase of a strategic initiative. Greg Githens briefly explains two examples: the “One Company” strategic initiative and a company that is facing growth pains. Continue reading
Strategic Initiative Case Study: Intel’s Product Development Turnaround
Organizations need to mature new product development processes, product life cycle processes, and other processes. The article describes Intel and its product development framework. The first case study failed to deliver benefits, in part because the team tried to make the organization comply and conform to a model. It requires skill to navigate and change culture. The second case was successful, in part because the CEO made it clear he was unhappy with product quality. The article lists numerous lessons learned for strategic initiatives. Continue reading
Case Study: Strategic Initiative Kickoff in a Global Joint Venture
This case study of a global new product development launch by a joint venture provides seven leadership lessons. One is to get people out of their comfort zone and into their learning zone. Continue reading
Strategic Initiative Case Study: Delivering Large Cost Savings in Healthcare IT Infrastructure
How a manager saw an opportunity to align his work with executive vision for IT cost savings, and drove significant benefits through a large healthcare organization. Summarizes value of elevator speech, key actions, team building, managing around a boss, and incremental benefits delivery. Continue reading
Posted in Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Transforming the Organization
Tagged Business transformation, case study, elevator speech, health care, Information technology management, IT infrastructure, Kaiser Permanente, Leadership, program management, strategic initiatives, Strategic management, strategic thinking, transformation, vision
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Director Business Transformation: Position Description & Relationship to Strategic Initiatives
Provides three examples of Director Business Transformation roles at Hertz, Sears, and SuperValu and suggests that there are similarities and distinctions with roles for VP, Director, or Manager of Strategic Initiatives. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Transforming the Organization
Tagged Best practice, Business, Business transformation, change management, Chief financial officer, director, Greg Githens, growth, Hertz, Information Technology, job, Management, Organizational Development, position, program management, Project management, Sears, Strategic initiative, strategic initiatives, Strategic management, Supervalu, transformation, transformation initiatives
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