The Role of the Chief Executive Officer 4

About Strategic Thinking Group 4

Selected Clients 6

Strategy & The Will To Execute™ 8

The Driving Forces of Achievement 10

Program Overview 12

What You Will Accomplish 13

Individual STG Service Offerings 28Think! “What will we sell, to whom, and where?” 30Measure! “Telling the story of your strategy” 31Lead! “No excuses” Leadership 31Attack! “Winning market share by beating customers’ expectations” 31Defend! “Outhinking, outmaneuvering and outperforming your competitors” 32

Observe! “What in the world is happening around us?” 32

Our Strategy Practitioners 34

CONTENTS

3

DREAM. THINK. BECOME...

three powerful words that describe the management role of a Chief

Executive Officer (CEO), as he or she pursues the creation, growth, and

preservation of wealth for his or her organization. Management in this sense, as

someone once observed, “...is truly the most creative of all arts, since the medium

is human talent itself ”.

Creating an organization in which the people have both the ability and the

bounded freedom to dream, think, and become greater than they thought

possible, is the hallmark of true leadership. In order to create this type of

organization, a CEO must have a range of characteristics and skills that he is

able to bring to the organization.

First, he always considers the future as an important dimension of

management time. He frequently reminds his people to think about that

future and the role of the organization within it.

Second, since the future is less than certain, the CEO is able to

operate with less than perfect information. He relies, as Joel Barker

tells us, on intuition — the ability to make a decision in the absence of

complete information.

THE ROLE OF THE

Chief Executive Officer

future oriented

intuitiveabstract thinker

aims at long term survival & growth

sees the ‘big picture’

able to tell a story

4

James B. Haybyrne

Chairman & CEO

Strategic Thinking Group

Strategic Thinking Group is an

international group of leading strategy

practitioners who assist the Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) of an organization to

create a customer by crafting, executing and

sustaining their strategic direction. Our business

is based on the belief that those organizations

whose CEO and executives have the ability

to think and act as if they were in the future

– who think strategically – will always have a

competitive advantage. The Group’s strength

lies in our ability to work in partnership with

CEOs to instill in their organizations a system

of thinking strategically which can be applied in

the real world of competition.

The Group was founded in 1991. We are one

of the few professional services firms in the

world which guarantees client satisfaction with

our professional services or we will return our

professional fees.

STRATEGIC THINKING GROUPThird, as the CEO looks into the future he or she

is able to see the “Big Picture” without being confused

by the various parts of that picture. All the variables that

influence the organization’s strategy are considered and

seen in relationship and in proportion, one to the other.

Fourth, the CEO has a capability to understand

and incorporate abstract ideas such as the values or basic

beliefs that drive the organization. He has the character

and strength to ask his organization to internalize those

values and use them as a beacon in turbulent times.

Fifth, the CEO is able to take all of these concepts

about the future and create a clear picture and “story”

that all the people can understand. He or she is an

excellent communicator and spends considerable time

thinking about the creation of a positive reputation for

the organization.

Sixth, the CEO has a drive to preserve the

organization. Therefore, he is willing to sacrifice short-

term gain for long term survival and growth. At the end

of his tenure, there will be something of immense value

to be passed to future generations of management.

Those characteristics are the foundation principles

that support our program “Strategy & The Will

To Execute™”. I welcome you as a CEO or senior

executive to review our program and to judge how it can

apply, in whole or in part, to your organization. This

strategy focused program has been used throughout the

world with organizations who seek an answer to the

question “what will we become?”. And the answer to

that question must come from you and your executive

leadership team ... not from an outside strategy

consultant nor investment banker. The journey to answer

that question is never easy... but, then again, that is

why we need a Chief Executive Officer who can lead an

organization to Dream. Think. Become.

5

SELECTED CLIENTS

6

In the last analysis management is practice… its only authority is performance.

P E T E R F . D R U C K E R

7

STRATEGY & THE WILL TO EXECUTE™ Henry David Thoreau, noted Western writer and thinker,

was not a strategist CEO but he understood, long before Nike, that the fundamental essence of life rests not simply

in dreams but rather in doing something about those dreams. In a word, execution. Just do it. As he wrote: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” 8

Our experiences as CEOs in business, have taught

us the value of the execution of ideas; that without

execution those ideas are merely unformed intentions

held in check by fear. While we always talk about

doing something, we are simultaneously afraid of doing

something. The author Sidney J. Harris, wrote: “Our

own dilemma is that we hate to change yet love it at the

same time; what we really want is for things to remain

the same but get better.”

But we all know that things never seem to get better

unless we are willing to change and we have the

discipline and optimism to change: to execute our ideas.

We are certain that most of our CEO colleagues will agree

that the purpose of the execution of a business strategy

is to create and retain customers. Without customers

there will never be the “beloved” shareholder value.

And yet CEOs realize that success does not come about

just by thinking and talking about the changing needs

of customers. Rather success comes from the ability to

successfully execute the strategy and get things done

-- the ability to link strategy, leadership and performance

-- the three essential elements of strategy execution.

But success often eludes us. We struggle to communicate

our strategy and so often lack the discipline to prioritize

our efforts. Oftentimes our mindset or culture allows us

to drift away from achievement, fearing its demands. We

always have an excuse why we didn’t execute our dreams.

Over the years, we thought about the issue of strategy

execution and the difficulty people have in executing

their ideas. And as a result, we developed an approach

that we call Strategy & The Will To Execute™. It came

about simply because we found that too many people in

leadership positions had reasons or excuses as to why they

were never able to achieve their goals.

It’s no wonder that when Robert Kaplan of Harvard

business school studied strategy execution, he found the

following unsettling results:

95% of a typical workforce do not understand

their organization’s strategy.

85% of executives spend less than one hour per

month discussing strategy.

And a staggering 90% of organizations surveyed

failed to execute their strategy.

So why is it so difficult to execute and why all the

excuses? Two words come to mind: discipline and

optimism. The discipline side of business is simply the

ability of a senior executive team, the leaders of the

organization, to stay focused on the things that have the

greatest impact on the overall success of the organization,

to not lose interest as time goes by. The optimistic side of

business is the culture of the organization, a fundamental

belief that people can achieve what they have set out to

achieve. Without that sense of optimism it is difficult for

any organization to execute a strategy, even if they have

the discipline to do so.

Martin Seligman, a noted cognitive psychologist,

researched this dimension to organizational success.

In studies of achievement of individuals and

organizations he found that aptitude (I am able to do

it), coupled with motivation (I want to do it), does not

necessarily lead to sustainable success unless you have

the third dimension, optimism (I believe I will do it).

Individuals who scored lower in aptitude, yet very high

on optimism generally would outperform those with

higher aptitude but with less confidence in their own

ability to “make it happen”.

Furthermore, David McClellan in his landmark book,

“The Achieving Society”, found through research that

achievement oriented organizations are comprised

of achievement oriented individuals. And both the

organization and individuals within it followed 5 ideas or

principles of achievement:

9

First, they had an extraordinary preoccupation

with excellence. Everything they did was driven by a

sense of being the best at what they did. No shortcuts.

Just excellence.

Second, they had a belief in cause and effect

thinking. They understood how their organization

worked and the relationship between individual

performance and organizational success. They made

decisions, not in isolation, but rather within a full

understanding of how their organization operated in

a business environment. They were able to “connect

the dots.”

Third, each individual believed that their effort

“counted” within the organization and they had the

control to set their own goals and possessed the ability to

achieve those goals.

Fourth, they were moderate risk takers. And

when they had taken that moderate risk and successfully

achieved their goals, they raised the bar higher, repeating

this process in a disciplined way that enabled them to

grow and sustain their business.

Fifth, they were always looking for feedback. Ed

Koch, former Mayor of New York would constantly ask

his fellow New Yorkers: “How am I doing?” And so

achievers had good performance measurement systems

both at the organizational level, such as the balanced

scorecard, and good, regularly reviewed individual

performance appraisal systems and culture measurements.

So when you review Robert Kaplan’s statistics and you

look at your own colleagues around the boardroom table

saying, “we have a strategy”, remember, that is only

part of the game. Ask yourself whether you have the

discipline and the optimism to seize the moment. If you

don’t, your great strategy may simply be the beginning

of a long rut. And a rut, as Alan Lampkin reminds us, is

simply a grave with no ends.

THE DRIVING FORCES OF

Achievement

10

A pre-occupation with success

A belief in cause & effect

thinking

A belief that “My” effort counts and

I can set my own goals

A moderate level of risk taking

A desire for feedback

12

34

5

11

1. Crafting The Strategy 16

2. Capturing The Strategy 17

3. Measuring The Strategy 18

4. Assessing The Will To Execute 19

5. Organizing Strategy Execution 20

6. Leading Strategy Execution 21

7. Communicating The Strategy 22

8. Developing The Will To Execute 23

9. Cascading The Strategy 24

10. Tracking Execution 25

Lessons Learned 26

Time Chart 27

STRATEGY & THE WILL TO EXECUTE™ PROGRAM OVERVIEW

12

WHAT YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH

A clear strategy to create and serve a customer in order to

make money

A Strategic Scorekeeping System to assist you in

managing the execution of the strategy

A constructive culture and the application of leadership

skills which empower people to deliver the results demanded by the strategy

Clear operational battle plans that focus your team’s energies on launching or relaunching

the products and services critical to the success your

strategy

Analysis of competitors’ moves in the market place and plans to counter attack

A strategic intelligence system in place that allows

you to monitor change

13

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.

Now put the foundations under them.T H O R E A U

ST R AT E G I C CA PA B I L I T I E S S U P P O RT CA PA B I L I T I E S AT TAC K CA PA B I L I T I E S F U T U R E PO S I T I O N S

COPYRIGHT © JAMES B. HAYBYRNE

ECONOMIC BATTLEFIELD

CRAFTING THE STRATEGY

We will craft the strategy and identify strategic offensive and defensive positions.

1

Strategic thinking principles and

techniques to craft an agreed strategy

Agree the strategic assessment pre-work

to be completed by participants

Create a clear future strategic end

position for the business: products/

services, customers, markets

Identify critical issues and clear

future priorities

Decide strategic offensive and

defensive positions

Plan Battles of the Strong and Battles

of the Weak to execute strategy

S T A G E I

STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT

S T A G E I I

CRAFT YOUR STRATEGY

S T A G E I I I

STRATEGIC POSITIONS

16

2CAPTURING THE STRATEGY

We will capture our strategy in a clear, well written “story” of what we will look like when we have achieved our strategic positions. This story will build a common understanding of what needs to be executed and the direction, investment, and development of all markets.

The CEO will be interviewed by our journalist, and/or your public relations

advisor, who will then write a newspaper article, as if it were the end of the

strategic timeframe when his or her organization has successfully completed

its journey.

17

MEASURING THE STRATEGY

3

Using our proven methodologies, the executive

team will design a Balanced Scorecard which

measures the organization’s performance

from 4 critical perspectives. This links business

performance measurement to strategy, showing

cause/effect relationships and gives the leadership

team a navigational tool to assess their progress on the

battlefield as they execute their strategy.

We will define key metrics that we will use to ensure that we are successfully executing our strategy.

18

4ASSESSING THE WILL TO EXECUTE

Strategy execution cannot be successfully initiated unless it is

viewed as urgent, particularly by those at the top of the organization.

Sharing data with key internal stakeholders (top managers, the next

level of managers, and others who can directly impact the success of

strategy execution efforts) is important for a number of reasons:

It can enhance the breadth and clarity with which

execution problems are defined.

It can increase understanding of, support for,

and commitment to executing the strategy.

It also provides an opportunity to identify those

stakeholders who are willing to define

and lead strategy execution.

Do we have the will to execute? We will measure our desired culture and our current culture. We will analyze where are our biggest gaps, and how we will close them.

19

ORGANIZING STRATEGY EXECUTION

Strategy execution can be achieved through improving existing structures,

systems, processes, behaviors, skills or conditions or by making fundamental

changes to the organization. Predetermination of how strategy execution will

be conducted and managed enables those responsible for the change process

to consider and obtain necessary resources and commitments.

5

We will select and bring together a coalition of key people, which includes our executive leadership team, who have great influence over key parts and levels of our organization. They will guide the execution of our strategy and we will give them the tools and authority to get on with the job.

20

LEADING STRATEGY EXECUTION

6

Leadership impacts culture. Effective modeling is essential to building

trust and credibility, but requires that leaders have the courage to first

make changes in their own behavior that will communicate their personal

commitment to the strategy. Therefore, the current leadership impact on

the culture or mindset of the organization will be assessed. A debrief of the

leadership assessment results will be conducted for the executive team, from

which they will understand their leadership styles, and how others perceive

them in terms of these styles. These assessments improve professional

effectiveness in the areas of task accomplishment and relations with others:

two key dimensions of successful leaders.

We will assess, debrief and develop our new leadership skills at the senior executive level to execute our strategy.

21

7COMMUNICATING THE STRATEGY We will develop and execute a communication plan which will ensure that key stakeholders understand our strategy as evidenced by the successful execution of priority issues.

One of the main purposes of communicating the strategy is to build widespread

understanding and support. In turn, building a consensus requires encouraging

feedback on the strategy. While some of the feedback may be negative

and suggest modifications, a revised strategy, accepted by a majority of the

organization’s members, will be more effective in producing desired changes than

one that is not supported.

22

8DEVELOPING THE WILL TO EXECUTE

This stage of the program focuses on organizational change

as to better allow the efficient execution of the organization’s

strategy. The highly interactive 2 day program identifies

what factors drive the organization towards, or hold it back

from executing the strategy. The customized program aims

to promote and enhance forces that allow the strategy to be

executed in the most effective and efficient way, and decrease

detrimental forces, by creating a constructive culture.

The Cycle Of Success- Developing The Will To Execute: We will define and improve our group and individual thinking styles in order to better execute our strategy.

Which leads to more self confidence and higher

goal setting

A belief that I control my destiny

Leads to positive “self talk”

Leads to positive self image

Positive self imageleads to high levels of goal

settingCreating a sense of urgency to “solve”

how to achieve goals

Which leads to high levels achievement

Which leads to positive feedback

C YC L E O F S U CC E S S

23

CASCADING THE STRATEGY

9

We will choose people based on defined selection criteria to become strategy

execution facilitators. They will undergo the 3-5 day STG program where

they will be coached on how to teach the Cycle of Success. They will

develop an organizational plan to roll out the strategy under the direction

of the coalition of key people. These strategy execution facilitators will

monitor the progress of the Cycle of Success program by holding quarterly

review sessions.

We will then cascade the Cycle of Success by developing strategy execution facilitators to guide the roll out of the strategy.

24

10TRACKING EXECUTION

Monitoring the strategy execution and encouraging feedback provides the

basis for refining goals, strategies, and timetables. Feedback can also indicate

which unit-level strategies should be institutionalized and what additional

changes are needed for execution to be successful at the organizational level.

Feedback on the execution process will almost always suggest modifications or

refinements to the process or to the major themes or initiatives of the strategy.

Continually monitoring the progress made during the execution process

makes it possible to identify, recognize, and reward success.

In turn, visible recognition and rewards reinforce the strategy, communicate

quick wins, and help to build and maintain momentum.

We will have regular ‘Meetings of the Mind’ to track progress to plan, making the necessary changes to improve performance and transfer that knowledge to every level.

25

LESSONS LEARNED

The execution of the strategy will be evaluated to ascertain whether it

produced the desired results and to document the lessons learned. The

things that the organization did right, as well as the things that could have

been done better, should be identified and documented to guide future

learning and adaptation.

Mechanisms will be established to maintain the gains realized from the

organizational change processes and to promote future learning and

adaptation. This puts the organization in a better position to successfully

meet the demands of its external environment. Since most external

environments change continually, so must organizations be able to continue

to change.

Based on the lessons learned, mechanisms should be established to

ensure that the organization continues to be responsive to changes in the

environment.

Has everything happened that we wanted to happen? What did we learn? How will we apply those lessons to our next phase of improving performance?

NOW THE JOURNEY BEGINS AGAIN...

26

TIME CHART

STEPS DATE COMPLETE D

1 We will craft the strategy and identify strategic offensive and defensive positions. MONTHS 1-3

2We will capture our strategy in a clear, well written “story” of what we will look like when we have achieved our strategic positions. This story will build a common understanding of what needs to be executed and the direction, investment, and development of all markets.

MONTH 3

3 We will define key metrics that we will use to ensure that we are successfully executing our strategy. MONTH 4

4 Do we have the will to execute? We will measure our desired culture and our current culture. We will analyze where are our biggest gaps, and how we will close them.

MONTH 5

5We will select and bring together a coalition of key people, which includes our executive leadership team, who have great influence over key parts and levels of our organization. They will guide the execution of our strategy and we will give them the tools and authority to get on with the job.

MONTH 6

6 We will assess, debrief and develop our new leadership skills at the senior executive level to execute our strategy. MONTH 7

7 We will develop and execute a communication plan which will ensure that key stakeholders understand our strategy as evidenced by the successful execution of priority issues.

MONTH 8

8 The Cycle Of Success - Developing The Will To Execute: We will define and improve our group and individual thinking styles in order to better execute our strategy.

MONTH 10

9 We will then cascade the Cycle of Success by developing strategy execution facilitators to guide the roll out of the strategy. MONTH 12

10 We will have regular ‘Meetings of the Mind’ to track progress to plan, making the necessary changes to improve performance and transfer that knowledge to every level.

QUARTERLY FROM MONTH 6

Has everything happened that we wanted to happen? What did we learn? How will we apply those lessons to our next phase of improving performance?

MONTH 24

27

INDIVIDUAL STG SERVICE OFFERINGS

We recognize that not all clients need our full “Strategy &

The Will to Execute™.” For example, you may already have

completed some key points of the journey to strategy execution

or you may wish to focus on a particular area. We can help.

Our services have been designed to be stand alone as well as be

a part of the whole Strategy & The Will to Execute™ program.

Please refer to the following individual programs for which we

will provide details including how the programs are organized

and conducted.

28

COPYRIGHT © JAMES B. HAYBYRNE

7 STEPS TO A SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED STRATEGY

CraftThink!Strategy Development ProcessBENEFIT TO YOUR BUSINESS:a competitive advantage!Strategic Thinking Group’s Strategy Development

Process empowers your company with a sustainable

strategy supported by “battlefield” operating principles to

execute the strategy. We provide the thinking roadmap,

you make the journey. Our strategic thinking process will

allow your company to:

Develop a clear strategy to create a customer

Achieve strategic positions: market share,

revenue, profitability

Execute critical organizational changes

Assign accountability for results

Obtain commitment for execution

Speak a common language about your

future business

®

“What will we sell,to whom, and where?”

30

ExecuteMeasure!The Balanced ScorecardBENEFIT TO YOUR BUSINESS:a focus on future revenue!

You focus on creating value for your shareholders by

knowing how to create value for your customers

Your employees understand your strategy

You are able to identify sources of future revenues

Links strategy to tactics

Acts as the measurable basis for building and

leading a performance-based culture

Lead!“No Excuses!” LeadershipBENEFIT TO YOUR BUSINESS:your strategy executed by ordinary people achieving extraordinary results!

LEADERSHIP

Leadership styles are assessed

Leadership skills developed aimed at improving

individual and group leadership effectiveness

CULTURE

Your organization’s current culture and its readiness

to execute strategy is assessed and analyzed

The vision of your organization’s desired culture

(what it wants to be) is compared to the current

culture (what it is).

The levers for cultural change are identified

(structure, systems, technologies, skills)

Action plans are developed to manage the changes to

a more performance-based culture.

Attack!Product LaunchBENEFIT TO YOUR BUSINESS:a loyal customer!

Clarify product positioning

Define the market

Formulate a marketing strategy

Conduct competitor analysis

Execute development

Building operations/production plan

Perform financial projections

“Winning market share by beating customers’ expectations”

“Telling the story of your strategy”

“No excuses! Executing your strategy through a performance-based culture” 31

Defend!Competitor InsightBENEFIT YOUR BUSINESS:a surprised competitor!Protect your key product/customer/markets

by anticipating a competitor’s attack.

Prevent competitors from:

Stealing your customers!

Blocking your entry into new markets!

Surprising you with new

products/ideas!

Changing the rules of the game!

“Outthinking, outmaneuvering and outperforming your competitors”

“What in the world is happening around us?”

Observe!Strategic IntelligenceBENEFIT TO YOUR BUSINESS:an ability to anticipate the future!

Create a strategic intelligence system which

constantly monitors the world around you to track

changes which may affect your strategy.

Improve your ability to manage your response to

inevitable change

Identify threats and opportunities

Avoid surprises from the outside world

Gain competitive advantage by decreasing your

reaction time to events

Better understand your own company in relation

to changing competitive and industry forces and

industry forces

Sustain

32

It is not the critic who counts;

not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the

doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,

whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;

who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again,

because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does

actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms,

the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,

and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,

so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know

neither victory nor defeat.

T H E O D O R E R O O S E V E L T

2 3 J U N E 1 9 1 0

Which produces results

OUR STRATEGY PRACTITIONERS

Using a process that is a catalyst for enormous change

OUR DIRECTORS ARE:

Trusted Senior Advisors with formidable business experience

who assist CEOs to develop and execute a strategic direction

OUR DIRECTORS PROVIDE:Relationship-based

TrustworthyConsistent and confidential

strategic counsel

34