Strategy to Beat the Odds
Despite their best intentions, business leaders often get bogged down by human biases and social dynamics that get in the way of clear strategy and strong execution. Just about anyone proposing a strategy comes in with a confident “hockey stick” projection. But how do you distinguish the true breakthrough plans from the fakes and then carry through the tough choices needed to make good on those promises?
Featured Insight
Article
Eight shifts that will take your strategy into high gear
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Developing a great strategy starts with changing the dynamics in your strategy room. Here’s how.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly
Strategy to beat the odds
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If you internalize the real odds of strategy, you can tame its social side and make big moves.
Interactive - McKinsey Quarterly
Five Fifty: The industry effect
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What’s the single biggest determinant of how your company performs relative to others? The industry you compete in.
The book behind the ideas
Mining the data from thousands of large companies, McKinsey partners Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt and Sven Smit open the windows of the strategy room, and bring an “outside view.”
Meet the authors

Sven Smit
Senior Partner, Chair of Insights and Ecosystems, and Chair of McKinsey Global Institute
