ALIGN WITH YOUR COMPANY’S STRATEGY
QUICK TAKES
very well be a praiseworthy
one. But unless it is reflected
in the actions of an organi-
zation, it is not the organiza-
tion’s strategy. A company’s
strategy is what the com-
pany’s people are actually
doing, not the slogan their
bosses intone.
The point is that everyone
needs to connect the dots.
If strategy is what people do
rather than what bosses say,
it is absolutely critical that
each person in the organi-
zation knows what it means
to take actions that are con-
sistent with the intent of the
strategy as asserted.
Strategic choice-making
cascades down the entire
organization, from top to
bottom. This means that
every person in the com-
pany has a key role to play in
making strategy. Performing
that role well means thinking
hard about four things:
1. What is the strategic intent
of the leaders of the level
above mine?
2. What are the key
choices that I make in my
jurisdiction?
3. With what strategic logic
can I align those choices with
those above me?
4. How can I communicate
the logic of my strategy
choices to those who report
to me?
114 HBR Special Issue
Spring 2023
If you as a manager can
do the first three of these
four, then you will own
your choices and own your
strategy. If you do the fourth,
you will set up your subor-
dinates to repeat these four
things and thereby own their
choices and their strategy,
and pass on the task to the
next layer of the company.
If each successive layer
assumes this level of own-
ership, the organization can
make its bosses’ statement a
real strategy rather than an
empty slogan.
And your bosses’ job? It’s
to make sure to start the ball
rolling by communicating
their strategy choices well.
Unless they do so, it won’t
matter a whit how good their
choices appear to be. They
6. How to Prioritize
won’t be reflected in what
you end up doing.
Your Work When Your
Originally published on HBR.org
June 18, 2014
Manager Doesn’t
HBR Reprint H00UXA
→ by AMY JEN SU
Roger L. Martin is a former
dean of the Rotman School
of Management, an adviser to PRI O RI TI ZI NG WO RK C AN be company’s strategy or know
CEOs, and the author of A New frustrating, especially if you what’s expected of them to
Way to Think: Your Guide to Su-
work for a hands-off manager help achieve company goals.
perior Management Effective-
ness (Harvard Business Review or a company that doesn’t Compounding the problem,
give you clear goals. Most recent research shows that
Press, 2022).
TARA MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
of us face this reality every global executives say they
day. The frequently cited have too many conflicting
research of Robert Kaplan priorities. How can you learn
and David Norton shows that to prioritize your own work
more than 90% of employees and still feel satis­faction
don’t fully understand their from a job well done?
 If you don’t prioritize your time, someone else
will, and it won’t always be with your best interests in mind.
Take ownership. First,
check your mindset when
it comes to setting prior-
ities. Don’t assume that
prioritizing your workload is
someone else’s job, and don’t
choose to see yourself solely
as a doer or a “worker bee.”
It’s easy to point blame at our
managers and organizations
when we experience high
levels of stress or an over-
whelming amount of work.
Recognize that consciously
setting priorities is a key
pillar of success. You can
start today by assessing how
well you’re handling the in-
creased workload that comes
with being a leader.
Filter priorities. Select a
couple of areas to set priorities
in; this can help the brain
manage information overload.
Researchers have found that
having too many options
can paralyze us or lead to
decisions that go against our
best interests. Two criteria I
use with clients to determine
priorities include contribution
and passion. Consider your
role today and answer the
following questions:
• What is my highest con-
tribution? When we reflect
on contribution, we consider
both the organization’s needs
and how we uniquely bring
to bear strengths, experience,
and capabilities. The word
contribution captures a sense
of purpose, citizenship, and
service.
• What am I passionate
about? Motivation and
energy fuel action, so when
setting priorities, get clear on
what brings you inspiration
in your work today.
Determine next steps with
an organizing framework.
We can put the two criteria of
contribution and passion to-
gether to create an organizing
framework. The framework
can help you sort priorities
and define subsequent ac-
tions. Consider this chart:
QUADRANT I
Prioritize those areas of your
job that hit this sweet-spot
intersection of bringing
your highest value-add and
making an impact that you
feel excited about. Look at
the answers to the two ques-
tions above and see which
projects, initiatives, and
activities show up on both
your high-contribution and
high-passion lists.
QUADRANT II
Tolerate those parts of the
role that are important but
drain your energy when
you’re engaging in them.
What are the possible dis-
comforts, and what can you
do about them?
• Tolerate and accept that
you aren’t going to love every
part of the job. For example,
you may be excited about
having a larger role and team
but less excited about the
increase in managerial pro-
cesses and administration
that comes with it.
• Tolerate the fact that you
may be on a learning curve.
Perhaps a key part of the job
includes something that isn’t
Passion
yet a strength, such as pre-
senting at town hall meetings
or being more visible exter-
nally. Keep a growth mindset
and push yourself out of the
comfort zone.
• Remember that there
is a tipping point in this
quadrant. For example, your
highest contribution in a
strategy role may never offer
you the passion you feel
when coaching people. The
quadrant could highlight that
it’s time for a change (which
was my situation more than
15 years ago, when no amount
of prioritizing was ever going
to overcome the fact that I
was in the wrong career).
QUADRANT III
Elevate those tasks that
give you a lot of energy but
that others don’t see as the
best use of your time. Where
are the possible points of
elevation?
• Elevate the value-add.
Perhaps you see a hot new
area, but the impact is less
clear to others. Share what
Which Tasks
Should You
Prioritize?
Focus on those that align your
passion with where you can
contribute most. Tolerate, elevate,
and delegate the rest.
III I
HIGH
Elevate Prioritize
IV II
LOW
Delegate Tolerate
LOW HIGH
Value of contribution
Source: Paravis Partners
you are seeing out on the
horizon that fuels your
conviction, and explain why
it’s good not only for you but
also for the company.
• Elevate yourself. Be mind-
ful of areas you still enjoy,
perhaps from a previous role
or from when the company
was smaller. Maybe you love
to fix problems and have a
bias toward action, which
leads you to get involved in
things your team should be
handling. Hit pause before
diving in.
Ultimately, if the discon-
nect grows between what
keeps you motivated and
what your organization
values, it may be time to
move on.
HBR Special Issue
Spring 2023 115
QUADRANT IV
Delegate the daily churn of
low-value and low-­energy-
producing activities, emails,
and meetings. If there’s no
one to delegate to, make the
case for hiring someone. You
can also just say no or elim-
inate those tasks altogether.
The irony is, as we progress
in our careers, things that
were once in quadrant I now
belong in quadrant IV. If
people still come to you for
these tasks, redirect them
your time, someone else
will. And it won’t always be
with your best interests or
the greater good in mind. So
take ownership and reclaim
decision-making power over
where you can best spend
your time and energy. By
doing so, you set yourself
on a trajectory to produce
meaningful results, experi-
ence more job satisfaction,
and have increased energy.
Originally published on HBR.org
January 24, 2017

graciously by saying some-

thing like, “It’s so great to see
you. I know how important
this is. I’ve asked Kate on my
team to take on those issues,
and she’ll be able to get you
a more direct and speedy
answer.”
Operationalize and flag
priorities in your calendar.
Look back on your calendar
over the past month to see
how much time you allocated
across the four quadrants.
I personally use a color-­
coding system in my calen-
dar to quickly and visually
see how I’m doing (QI = yel-
low, QII = purple, QIII = blue,
QIV = no color). At the start
HBR Reprint H03EVL
Amy Jen Su is a cofounder and
managing partner of Paravis
Partners, a premier execu-
tive coaching and leadership
development firm. For the past
two decades, she has coached
CEOs, executives, and rising
stars in organizations. She is
the author of The Leader You
Want to Be: Five Essential
Principles for Bringing Out Your
Best Self—Every Day (Harvard
Business Review Press, 2019)
and a coauthor, with Muriel
Maignan Wilkins, of Own the
Room: Discover Your Signature
Voice to Master Your Leadership
Presence (Harvard Business
Review Press, 2019).
7. Communicating
a Corporate Vision
to Your Team
→ by KELLY DECKER and BEN DECKER
AMI T * MANAGE S A team of
40 people around the globe
for a massive tech company.
After months of furiously
working on a new product
to be the first to market,
his boss told him that the
company’s strategy had
shifted. The product’s launch
plans were then delayed, and
competitors began gobbling
strategy. Amit had to restore
their trust and motivation.
He needed to communicate
vision.
Let’s clear something up.
Amit’s big task was not to
set the vision. In this case,
the product strategy had
changed at the top. His job
was to translate the execu-
tives’ thinking behind the
HENRIK SORENSEN/GETTY IMAGES

of a week, flag all QI priorities up market share. Amit’s team changes so that his team
and give yourself a little extra felt deflated. Instead of cele- could understand why things
preparation time on them. brating a launch, they found had changed and how they
Don’t settle for the status themselves mired in more were supposed to redirect
quo. As Greg McKeown, contract negotiations, tacti- their efforts. After all, they
author of Essentialism, cal challenges, and follow-up were now being told to scrap
shares, if you don’t prioritize calls. They doubted the new all the work that was done,

116 HBR Special Issue

Spring 2023
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