In many ways, successful execution of business strategy is like running a relay race. Responsibility for understanding the strategy and translating it into appropriate actions is passed from the senior level of management through successive levels to the front lines. In a relay race, smooth passes of the baton are a competitive advantage, while fumbles of the baton can cost the race. In strategic execution, each pass of the strategy from one level of management to the next is an opportunity for a smooth handoff or a fumble. Strategic fumbles can take many forms: functional priorities that are out of alignment with strategy, managers who are pulled into operational details and fail to manage, or key players who don’t coordinate their efforts, to name a few.

In their newly published book, Passing the Baton: Winning the Race for Strategic Execution, Drs. Timothy Daughtry and Gary Casselman present ideas and tools for passing the strategic baton through the three handoff zones: from senior to middle managers, from middle to line managers, and from line managers to individual contributors. Each handoff zone presents its own challenges as the managers passing the baton and those receiving it meet in the handoff zone between their levels.

Daughtry and Casselman take the reader through seven challenges in taking the strategic baton and passing it smoothly to the next level:

• Sizing up the competitive field
• Sizing up the team
• Anticipating possible problems in the handoff zones
• Translating from strategic to functional priorities
• Translating strategy into personal expectations
• Coaching for performance
• Guiding execution without micromanaging

Readers making the transition from the technical ranks to management should find practical tools and ideas to help them to grow into their new role. More experienced managers should find the book an excellent resource for developing the managers reporting to them.

Passing the Baton: Winning the Race for Strategic Execution is now available in a limited first edition. The authors are pleased to announce that the book has been accepted for publication in 2009 by Capital Books, Inc.