Top business graduates lack one key skill – execution

We all know the type. Sharp, articulate and always excels with flawless grades, and consistently provides the right answer in seminars. But while high-achieving graduates excel at theoretical thinking, they often struggle to take action in real-world contexts. Why? Because academia rarely teaches the most important skill of all: execution. That is the gap we need to address – the one between how our brightest graduates think and how they act when complexity, ambiguity and urgency collide.

We can do this by embedding execution principles into postgraduate teaching in the following ways:

• Replace case studies with cross-functional simulations that demand decisions under pressure
• Encourage rapid iteration rather than long theoretical analysis
• Celebrate imperfection – done well – over delayed perfection.

These changes help students learn the hardest lesson: grades do not reflect leadership skills. Outcomes do!

Strategic thinking is not enough

Top students are trained to optimise ideas, critique logic and build models. But real-world success demands more. It calls for:

• Alignment across teams and agendas
• Courage to make hard decisions without perfect data
• The stamina to follow through when things get messy.

These students are brilliant at planning yet often avoid ownership. They excel in analysis but struggle to build coalitions. They anticipate risks but hesitate to commit. They think, but they do not move. And that is the problem.

The strategic execution gap

The strategic execution gap is the space between knowing what to do and actually doing it. It is wide. Based on years of mentoring high-potential professionals, five essential habits help close it:

• Set direction with discipline: use frameworks like objectives, goals, strategies, measures (OGSM) to reduce clutter and focus teams on one or two breakthrough goals. Example: In our classroom, teams use OGSM to pitch digital transformation plans to a mock executive board within 48 hours.
• Establish governance that drives action: appoint an “accountability owner” per objective. In team projects, each student rotates through a leadership role responsible for driving completion, not just coordination.
• Motivate through clarity and vision: teach students to create a one-slide “why this matters” deck. If they cannot sell an idea in 60 seconds, they are not ready.
• Monitor performance with leading indicators: instead of weekly reflections, use dashboards to track real-time progress toward deliverables. We teach a simplified Gantt tracking approach to instil urgency. We pair this with a quick-read dashboard to give students a real-world feel for execution visibility.
• Intervene early and without apology: students must learn to course-correct mid-flight. We use “red flag reviews” midway through projects to teach students when and how to escalate. One recent team completely turned around a failing initiative in just one week after identifying and acting on early warning signs. Great leaders do not do it all, they do what matters, with urgency and unity.

The perfection trap

Top-performing students are conditioned to chase perfect answers. But leadership demands choices in the face of imperfection. Execution happens under time pressure, with incomplete information and clashing priorities. Waiting for the “ideal” plan leads to inertia.

• Spotlight guide: Get your students workplace-ready
• Tried and tested ways to teach your students soft skills
• Show off students’ employability with e-portfolios

The most effective leaders do not idolise perfection. They launch, learn, and adapt. They recognise discomfort as a necessary companion to progress. And they understand that leadership is not about having the smartest idea. It is about creating tangible results.

What and how we should be teaching

We need to shift from strategic theory to strategic doing. That means designing learning that builds muscle memory for execution. Here is how:

1. Coalition building: assign students to lead “peer influence” exercises. For example, they must convince a sceptical teammate to back a decision without formal authority
2. Prioritisation under pressure: use “timeboxing” drills. Give teams 15 minutes to deliver an action plan with limited data
3. Resistance management: stage live role plays where teams pitch change to a mock board with planted objectors
4. Decision-making without consensus: require voting-based decisions with clear rationales, then reflect on outcomes
5. Progress over perfection: grade students on how fast they can turn in an imperfect but moving version 1.0. 

Execution is a contact sport, so let us turn the classroom into a scrimmage, not a seminar.

A simple, powerful tool: OGSM

OGSM is a clear and disciplined framework to turn strategy into execution. Its power lies in its simplicity. No fluff, no endless decks, just sharp alignment around what matters. At its core, OGSM connects the dots:

• Objective: the overarching aim (for example, “Accelerate digital transformation”)
• Goals: quantifiable targets (for example, “Improve supply chain visibility by 30 per cent”)
• Strategies: how you will get there (for example, “Launch regional data hubs”)
• Measures: how you will track it (for example, adoption rates, speed improvements).

This structured clarity cuts through noise, aligns teams, sharpens priorities and builds a shared focus on outcomes, rather than activity. 

Victoria, one of our top-performing students, led every class discussion with confidence but froze during her team’s real-time decision simulation. It was not until we introduced OGSM and required her to drive execution as the designated “accountability owner” that she truly began to lead. She later said, “This was the first time I realised that perfect thinking doesn’t mean progress.”

In larger organisations, strategy cannot stay at the top. That is where cascading comes in: translating OGSM into aligned plans for each division, region or product line. Done right, it creates a living roadmap. Everyone knows the destination. Everyone sees the path.

Let us stop rewarding flawless answers and start teaching the courage to act under pressure. Because the future belongs to those who not only think well but act decisively. That is the true hallmark of leadership.