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‘The devil
is in the details’
How should
CEOs or COOs operate? Bubuwit said it best. There’s a
tendency at the senior and middle-manage level to be too
big-picturish and too superficial. There is a phrase, “The
devil is in the details.” One can formulate brilliant
global strategies whose executability is zero. It’s only
through familiarity with details—the capability of
individuals who have to execute, the marketplace, the
timing—which a good strategy emerges. Bubuwit sums up his
approach in one sentence. “I like to work up from details
to big pictures.” Amen.
Keeping
things on track
Bubuwit
observes that most managers do not understand the nature
of strategy itself. They think of strategy as something
that takes place over a specific period of time, as in
long-term strategic planning.
Strategy
unfolds over time but itself is timeless. Strategy is a
coherent marketing direction. That’s why a five-year plan
doesn’t make sense. Bubuwit asks, “If you own the best
tactical car and you’ve selected the best strategic road
to drive it on, does it make sense to have goals at the
end of Year 1, Year 2, etc.?”
“Do you
slow down at the end of the year because you’ve exceeded
your goal? Do you speed up if you’ve missed your target?
If so, better get another advertising or marketing
manager.”
To win in
marketing, as in car racing, you have to go all-out all
the time. Furthermore, the existence of a five-year plan
with healthy sales increases seriously underplays the
importance of your competition. You can’t predict the
future because you can’t predict what your competitors
might do.
That’s why
the essence of keeping things on track is to pour it on
while being alert to competitive moves.
Codes of
conduct
Bubuwit
warns that company-endorsed codes of conduct and company
standards need to be clearly defined and firmly
established. There must be no room for misunderstandings,
misinterpretation or misbehavior. Your colleagues,
employees, suppliers and clients will be watching to see
how your company conducts business and how individuals are
comporting themselves and interacting with others in and
out of office, during company events and when acting as a
company representative. When setting company codes of
conduct and company standards, it is time for “plain
speak,” ensuring that there is no room for confusion. How
your employees act and react at business functions put on
by the company and at events where they act as company
representatives can affect the level of return that you
receive on your investment, and reflects back on the
company and impacts company growth. | 
