Comments on: Grading Your Business Strategist http://blog.jthawes.com/2009/03/24/grading-your-business-strategist/ Helping Smart People Think Clearly About Strategy Fri, 27 May 2011 09:41:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tom Hawes http://blog.jthawes.com/2009/03/24/grading-your-business-strategist/comment-page-1/#comment-25 Tom Hawes Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:28:17 +0000 http://tomhawes.wordpress.com/?p=80#comment-25 James, Thanks for the comments. >>Is doing strategy easy or is it hard? Both. Depends on what kind of strategy and who is doing it. >>Can any non-specialist judge a professional strategist? Of course. Happens all the time. If we weren't free to judge the performance of others outside of our specialty we would be in sad shape. We judge presidents, basketball coaches, figure skaters, etc., when most of us get nowhere near those professions. As for strategists, I contend that they they (like senior management) can have a large influence on the success of an organization. If we see some repeated dysfunctions, it makes sense to be a little concerned. Maybe your point is that most people cannot judge the strategist's performance in a detailed way since they are unfamiliar with the professional tools, techniques and challenges of strategy. I suppose that I agree with that point (if that was your point). -- Tom Hawes James,

Thanks for the comments.

>>Is doing strategy easy or is it hard?

Both. Depends on what kind of strategy and who is doing it.

>>Can any non-specialist judge a professional strategist?

Of course. Happens all the time. If we weren’t free to judge the performance of others outside of our specialty we would be in sad shape. We judge presidents, basketball coaches, figure skaters, etc., when most of us get nowhere near those professions.

As for strategists, I contend that they they (like senior management) can have a large influence on the success of an organization. If we see some repeated dysfunctions, it makes sense to be a little concerned.

Maybe your point is that most people cannot judge the strategist’s performance in a detailed way since they are unfamiliar with the professional tools, techniques and challenges of strategy. I suppose that I agree with that point (if that was your point).

– Tom Hawes

]]> By: James Bach http://blog.jthawes.com/2009/03/24/grading-your-business-strategist/comment-page-1/#comment-24 James Bach Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:00:28 +0000 http://tomhawes.wordpress.com/?p=80#comment-24 I worry that you have created a troublesome contradiction for yourself. You seem to be inviting us to assess our strategists. This implies that you believe we are competent to perform that assessment. BUT, if we are competent to do that, that implies there is nothing much special to being a strategist. Is doing strategy easy or is it hard? Can any non-specialist judge a professional strategist? I worry that you have created a troublesome contradiction for yourself. You seem to be inviting us to assess our strategists. This implies that you believe we are competent to perform that assessment. BUT, if we are competent to do that, that implies there is nothing much special to being a strategist.

Is doing strategy easy or is it hard? Can any non-specialist judge a professional strategist?

]]> By: Topics about Technology » Grading Your Business Strategist http://blog.jthawes.com/2009/03/24/grading-your-business-strategist/comment-page-1/#comment-23 Topics about Technology » Grading Your Business Strategist Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:27:49 +0000 http://tomhawes.wordpress.com/?p=80#comment-23 [...] Edu4U - DELL COMMUNITY placed an interesting blog post on Grading Your Business StrategistHere’s a brief overviewThere is the “marketing” role that gets to tell all types of stories to make us look good to customers. [...] [...] Edu4U – DELL COMMUNITY placed an interesting blog post on Grading Your Business StrategistHere’s a brief overviewThere is the “marketing” role that gets to tell all types of stories to make us look good to customers. [...]

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