Kaplan & Norton Strategy Leaders Forum
Tuesday, November 10th | 9:00am-5:00pm
Dr. Robert S. Kaplan Dr. David P. Norton
Harvard Business School Palladium Group, Inc.
Topic 1: Strategy Management: An Emerging Profession
Dr. David P. Norton
When the Balanced Scorecard idea was introduced in the 1990s, few organizations had the
processes to manage strategy. Today, strategy management and execution is the leading issue
of concern for senior management—in fact, the Conference Board’s latest CEO Challenge survey
reported some 760 chief executives around the world cited “excellence in execution” as their
number one concern. During this interval, we have seen the evolution of a new management
process and new positions on the organization chart. In this session, Dr. Norton will lead an
interactive discussion on how this movement will evolve to the next level, including the role of
certification, the learning being provided from global communities and the expanding role of
the OSM and information technology.
Topic 2: Executive Team Leadership: Creating the Urgency for Change
Dr. Robert S. Kaplan
Global surveys illustrate that strategy execution is the top concern for senior executives. In The
Execution Premium, we proposed that executive leadership is both necessary and sufficient for
successful strategy execution. Therefore it should be a natural fit for executive teams to lead the
strategy execution process. In this session, we will explore the approaches and motivations for
various senior executives who led Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame implementations at their
companies. The situation varied, ranging from “burning platforms” where the case for change
was obvious to all to new opportunities—created by technology—for executives to gain first
mover advantages by capturing high market share.
Topic 3: Linking Strategy and Operations
Dr. David P. Norton
Linking strategy to operations is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. But how exactly do
organizations translate strategy into new work processes—that is, operationalize the strategy?
Over the past two years, Dr. Norton has led “Action Working Group” programs to develop a
“how-to” methodology. In this session, Dr. Norton will describe the approach, consisting of a
Strategy Model and an Operations Model. The Strategy Model’s four features define the focus
and targets which must be executed at operational levels of the organization. The Operations
Model contains (1) the process model that decomposes each business process; (2) innovation
techniques for devising breakthrough approaches for advancing strategy; (3) the theme team,
which transcends silos and enables cross-business strategy management; and (4) the IT platform,
which supports the design and implementation stages.
Topic 4: Integrating Risk Management into Strategic Planning and Execution
Dr. Robert S. Kaplan
The events since March 2007 have revealed the inadequacy or, in some cases, the non-existence
of companies’ risk management processes. As Warren Buffett has said, “When the tide goes out,
we find out who has been swimming naked.” Professor Kaplan will introduce the wardrobe for
a new three-level risk management framework encompassing operational and compliance risk,
strategy risk, and enterprise risk. Managing each risk level, involves different organizational units,
responsibilities, and information systems. The strategy map and a new risk scorecard, linked to
the entity’s Balanced Scorecard, provide a natural bridge between strategy management and
risk management. The executive leadership team expands the agenda of their periodic meetings
to encompass the monitoring of risk identification and risk management processes, and also to
lead explicit discussions about external events that could jeopardize the entire strategy and the
enterprise itself.