Ralph Fernando: Agile Strategy [2019]

Agile Strategy is a practical guide for managers responsible for setting the strategic direction of their organisations in increasingly dynamic markets. Through its frameworks, tools and real-world examples, it explains how to transform business performance through greater organisational agility.

• LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
• STRATEGY
• BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

Why do we need a new book on strategy?
The pace of change is increasing, and strategic management is not keeping up. More than one in four (28%) strategic initiatives fail to meet their original goals and business intent[1], with insufficient agility identified as one of the top three barriers to successful strategy implementation[2].
The square peg of traditional strategy - vision, mission and blue-sky exercises; the separation of strategy from "implementation" - no longer fits the round hole of increasingly dynamic markets. It is time for a new approach.
How is Agile Strategy different?
Agile Strategy distinguishes itself from other strategy and agile books currently available in that it is:

• Designed for large organisations: Much of the writing on agile techniques addresses start-ups or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which operate under very different constraints and freedoms. Agile Strategy is written for large organisations who want to be more agile.
  
• Commercially-led: The approach is not a lightly airbrushed business rewrite of agile software development practices, but rather a fundamental rethinking of commercial and operational business practices.
  
• Practical: It is anchored in innovative and robust concepts but designed as a practical "how-to" guide: a book for practitioners, written by a practitioner.
  
• Results-focused: Whilst addressing a broad range of organisational topics, the book is grounded in the definition and delivery of measurable business benefits.

Why should I read it?
Agile Strategy offers four key benefits to its readers:

1. A clear framework ("RADAR")
2. A single, easy-to-grasp guiding principle: The Horizon
3. Measurable benefits
4. A practical approach

I hope you not only enjoy reading about this innovative new approach, but also go on to realise the full potential of your organisation by implementing it. Good luck!
Ralph Fernando
[1] Project Management Institute (2017) Pulse of the Profession
[2] The Economist Intelligence Unit (2017) Closing the Gap: Designing and Delivering a Strategy that Works"