Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Aug 10, 2012

Article of the Week
Why boards fail to choose the right CEO (Fortune)
Big Idea:  If leadership is critical to strategic alignment then so is the leader. Ram Charan points out that the choice of CEO must begin with the Board understanding clearly the leadership requirements of the company. He contrasts the selection of Gerstner at IBM (success) with Apotheker at HP (failure). And it doesn’t have anything to do with vision!

Editor’s Choice Articles
Retail 2020: Competing in a Changing Industry (BCG Perspectives)
Big Idea: Transformation trends in the retail industry provide much to ponder for any consumer-oriented business. BCG provides a detailed study for those in the business. For readers thinking about alignment issues beyond retail, check out the sections on customer focus and the top ten trends.

Corporate Strategy and Value Quadrants (Methods Frameworks)
Big Idea: Scorecard and strategy map practitioners always strive to link organizational culture and strategy but often end up with generalities. Method Frameworks reviews the Organizational Value Quadrant (OVQ) matrix, a good starting point to give more substance to defining the alignment of culture, structure, and service model.

Corporate Success vs. Failure – 30 Points of Distinction (Forbes)
Big Idea: Defining the strategic shifts required to execute a new vision and strategy is often a very useful tool to kick start the strategy execution process. Mike Myatt provides a “from/to” road map of change that summarizes the general themes of transformation that businesses face today. Pick what is relevant for your business and voila – a ready-made change agenda.

The Blue Screen of Death (Planninga from Nanninga)
Big Idea: A gummed up operating system is an apt metaphor for the inability of many organizations to get change implemented. Nanninga drives the analogy home in his usual fashion.  Mixing his metaphor with mine, I like the idea of applying some “corporate draino” to clean out the system occasionally.