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WILKES-BARRE — A business strategy “with clarity of purpose” is key to effective leadership, Cynthia Montgomery, Harvard Business School Timken professor, said.
Montgomery, a top selling Harvard Business Review author, will discuss business strategy development during a lecture, “Where Leadership Begins,” to be held at 7 p.m. on April 16 in the Arnaud C. Marts Center at Wilkes University.
The 45-minute free lecture is hosted by the Allan P. Kirby Center and the Wilkes University Family Business Alliance. A question and answer period will follow.
Montgomery sees business leaders taking their companies in too many directions.
“It is a very common issue,” Montgomery said. “You would be surprised the number of business leaders who cannot identify their companies’ strategy.”
To develop a strategy, Montgomery advises business leaders to ask themselves a few key questions:
• Why does this business matter?
• Where do you want the business to go?
• How to separate yourself from the competition?
“You have to be aware where you have been, where you were and how what you do matters,” she said.
A well-defined business strategy creates a path for management to move the company forward.
“Without ‘clarity of purpose’ a company tries to be everything to everyone,” Montgomery said.
“They need to step back and get a broader perspective.”
Strategies should be reviewed on a regular basis to prevent a company from becoming static and ensure “clarity of purpose” meets the changing needs of clients.
“For example The March of Dimes’ needs in 2015 are different than what they were in 1974,” she said.
For more information on this lecture or upcoming lectures, visit www.wilkes.edu.