The Focused Organization: How Concentrating on a Few Key Initiatives Can Dramatically Improve Strategy Execution

In The Focused Organization Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez shows you how fewer, more effectively elected and managed projects are the key to strategic and long-term success. Using his own research and work experience he explains how and why those organizations that focus on just a few key initiatives can perform significantly better than unfocused organizations, not only financially but also in achieving their strategic objectives and motivating their staff. The author introduces a new way of looking at a company through two very different and often conflicting dimensions: running-the-business and changing-the-business. What you add to one dimension you have to subtract from the other one. Finding the right balance between these two dimensions represents one of the major challenges to successful strategy execution. Becoming a focused organization involves a radical change in the way companies are organized and the way they select and manage projects - the creation of a new culture. The Focused Organization discusses the characteristics that comprise a focused organization. It describes key areas where a focused organization builds its levels of maturity; provides examples of focused organizations that outperform the rest; and explains in practical steps how all enterprises can become focused. The book finishes with a unique and inspiring case study that transports us to the early days of the current business world. Through the main character, Benny White, we learn how a business was conducted and how management evolved over decades with the introduction of business theories, including project management.

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, professor and best-selling author of the book on strategy execution "The Focused Organization". Antonio has been featured in several magazines, including Singapore Management Institute, Strategy Business Review and The Economist. He is the founder of the largest LinkedIn group in Strategy Execution (StrateXecution) which has more than 5.000 experts worldwide. Antonio is a professor at the #1 executive education school in the world (Duke CE) and other leading business schools such as Instituto de Empresa, Solvay and Vlerick. He has delivered executive programs to leaders of more than 30 multinationals on how to improve their strategy execution and project management capabilities. In 2013 Antonio was elected as Director for the Board of Directors of the Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org ). Currently he is the ViceChair of the Board. In addition, Antonio is the Head of Transversal Portfolio Management at BNP Paribas Fortis. Prior to that, he was head of post-merger integration at Fortis Bank, leading what was the largest takeover in the financial service history: the acquisition of ABN AMRO. He also worked for 10 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a senior manager.