The Escher Cycle

Strategy and Action

Running your business presents two major challenges. First, how do you create and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage in a rapidly changing marketplace against competitors who quickly adapt to every innovation you make? Second, how do you get over, around or through the mountain of tasks you face each day? Answering these questions will become easier when you realize they are connected, and that strategy and tactics (the actions you take to implement your strategy) are flip sides of the same coin. Strategy without action is meaningless; taking action without having a purpose or structure is ineffective.

All of your competitors have similar strategies, but companies that execute their activities better than their competitors are the ones that win. What are those activities? They are actions that enable the company to “make money by using resources to satisfy customer needs.” Effective activities involve executing, balancing, fine-tuning and connecting. That means your business must be great at operations, leadership, strategy and the creation of a “self-reinforcing layer of business advantage” that constantly recurs.

This is the “Escher...