Harvard Business Review - Honing Your Competitive Edge

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Tim Walther and Erick Erickson

Over the years I have spent a great deal of time reviewing various periodicals, magazines, publications, etc. and it’s my perspective that the Harvard Business Review is consistently the best business publication going. In the July-August edition - 2008 the central theme is Honing Your Competitive Edge. In one article, The Competitive Imperative of Learning, Amy Edmonson addresses the central managerial challenge of inspiring and enabling knowledge workers to solve, every day, problems that cannot be anticipated. The central theme is that competition in a knowledge economy requires that companies view execution as not an efficient way to get things done, but as an effective way to LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE. (Reference Mastery Mountain - STN Tool # 1) What I found interesting is how she addresses the ever-present business focus on execution. Consider GM - the largest and most profitable company in the world in the early 1970’s - whose success focused on centralized control and high-volume execution - a firm that posted a loss of 38.7 BILLION in 2007. The challenge with a focus on relentless execution is that several key drivers to employee and organizational performance are lost.  So what’s wrong with Execution? Ms. Edmonson summarizes this concept by saying “A focus on getting things done, and done right, crowds out the experimentation and reflection vital to sustainable success.” Predictable, self-sabotaging traps include critical information and ideas failing to rise to the top, people not having enough time to learn and unhealthy internal competition, and companies thinking they can do no wrong. In addressing one key factor for success, a model for accountability for meeting demanding goals balanced with psychological safety is provided.  This model is VERY similar to our ZONING IN MODEL (STN Tool # 41) and emphasizes the LEARNING ZONE where the focus is on collaboration and learning in the service of high-performance outcomes.  

There are several other articles which make this edition of HBR a great one. The Uncompromising Leader which focuses on the balance of performance and people which highlights building TRUST(STN Building Trust Tool # 92), increasing ENGAGEMENT and maintaining focus and consistency of PURPOSE (STN Why Tool # 11). 

Reaching your Potential, by Kaplan, talks about finding fulfillment through taking a hard look at how you define success(Climbing Myself Mountain STN Tool # 96), knowing your strengths and weaknesses, your passions and identifying the tasks you excel at which are critical to the success of your job. Can you identify these?

Almost all of these articles relate to SEEKING TRUE NORTH and our model of Prepare, Practice and Passion. It’s great to see that the Harvard Business Review complements our perspective so well….

Tim Walther

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