Culture as Competitive Advantage, Managing Crises, and Bridging the Strategy to Execution Gap: Dallas Summit Key Takeaways

A couple weeks ago, Outthinker Networks members and guests converged in Dallas, TX, for our latest strategy and innovation executive summit. Hosted by Sidley Austin LLP , the event brought together 30 executives leading strategy and innovation across industries. This gathering of minds yielded valuable insights on cultivating organizational culture, crisis management, and how companies can better bridge the persistent gap between strategy and execution.

Below, you’ll find a list of key takeaways from the day’s event.

1. Culture is your competitive edge?

The summit kicked off with a roundtable led by Anne Chow (She/Her) , former CEO of AT&T Business – a $35B operating unit with a workforce of 35,000 – and author of the new book Lead Bigger . The discussion centered on the pivotal role of culture in driving organizational success. Culture is the ultimate differentiator in today’s competitive landscape, and it can be a key factor in linking strategy to execution.?

Anne emphasized that today, every business must be a people business, and organizations need both a performance culture and a people culture. The new generations stepping into the workforce care much more about aligning personal and professional leaders. Exemplary leaders such as Satya Nadella and Warren Buffett are demonstrating the right way to lead.?

To help leaders ensure they are getting the right information to understand the culture and people perspective, members recommended they use engagement surveys; spend time on the front lines with managers and customers; leverage “internal consultants” who participate in employee conversations and give honest feedback in 1x1s; host private events for managers; and set up an anonymous box for people to submit concerns or complaints. This can help leaders stay plugged in to the voice of the company.?

The session concluded with a powerful reminder that effective leadership transcends hierarchies and requires fostering human connections across all levels of the organization.?

2. The best time to prepare for a crisis is before it happens

With crises occurring more frequently and unpredictably, crisis management has emerged as a core competency for modern organizations. Some examples of crises that attendees mentioned include cyberattacks, natural disasters, government investigations, industry regulations, or death of a member of the executive team. While strategy executives are regularly responsible for guiding leadership through scenario planning, crisis planning is typically the purview of other parts of the organization. This needs to change. ?

Yvette Ostolaza and S. Scott Parel , legal experts from Sidley Austin LLP, offered insights for leaders on preparing for and navigating through crises. The overarching message was clear: the best time to prepare for a crisis is before it happens.??

Strategy leaders can take a role in preparing their organizations for crises by facilitating regular tabletop exercises and simulations. To expand the strategy role, we must consider not only the slow-moving business and socioeconomic trends, but also the rapid, unexpected events. This requires a strategy that’s tuned into real-time, front-line data — much like a high-frequency trading operation that can sense signals and react swiftly.??

We identified three types of trends to consider:?

1. Trends you know will happen, but you don’t know when: These are trends like leaps in AI adoption or the metaverse. Rita McGrath's Discovery-Driven Planning can help identify and manage these types of trends.
2. Trends you know are going to happen, and you know when: This type of trend requires traditional scenario planning.?
3. Trends that may or may not happen, without a timeline: These are black swan events where strategy leaders can help their organizations to prepare. The key is to ask, “What could happen that we’re not thinking about?” and prepare accordingly.

Yvette and Scott emphasized that in a crisis, minutes matter, and having a well-defined crisis management plan and team in place can make all the difference.

Five keys emerged as critical: ?

• Having a plan in hand that doesn’t require more planning to execute?

• Clearly defining roles?

• Ensuring everyone is on deck to work the crisis (including board members)?

• Defining key stakeholders (including employees, media, and regulators)?

• Communicating rapidly and consistently to those stakeholders? ?

These five keys represent responsibilities for which strategy leaders are especially well-prepared.?

3. Organizations need to bridge the strategy to execution gap

A recurring theme throughout the summit was the challenge of translating strategic vision into operational reality. Executives shared their experiences and best practices for bridging this gap, revealing innovative approaches to this age-old problem. One member shared a method using AI to analyze customer feedback and inform strategy. By feeding customer survey data into ChatGPT for summarization and analysis, she shares weekly insights with the C-Suite to directly influence the company’s three-year strategy.?

The discussions also highlighted the important role of middle managers as strategy translators, interpreting and cascading strategy throughout the organization. Participants recognized that a culture of open communication, innovation, and accountability is essential for successful strategy execution.

The importance of building flexibility into strategic plans to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions was a common thread, as was the need to align performance metrics with strategic objectives to ensure that execution remains on track and employees understand their role in the bigger picture.

Final thoughts?

As the summit concluded, participants left with a renewed sense of purpose and a toolkit of strategies to navigate the complex business landscape. The discussions underscored that while technology and market dynamics continue to evolve at breakneck speed, the fundamentals of strong leadership, cultural alignment, and strategic agility remain constant.?

The Outthinker Networks summit served as a reminder that in the face of disruption and uncertainty, bringing together diverse perspectives and fostering open dialogue is more necessary than ever. As these strategy and innovation leaders return to their respective organizations, they carry with them not just new ideas, but a reinforced network of peers ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.?

Outthinker Networks is a global peer group of heads of strategy, innovation, and transformation at $1B+ companies who are determined to move their organizations to the next level. Members engage in curated learning, practical conversations, and networking opportunities to be more successful in performing their roles, solving their top challenges, and keeping their organizations ahead of the pace of disruption. Apply to join .