Which is more important?  Strategy, or execution?

(…Is this a trick question?)

In a recent article “Putting Strategy Into Practice“, published in Strategy+Business magazine, the author refers to the just-released HBR anthology “Must-Reads on Strategy“.

To address the issue, the editors of Harvard Business Review (HBR), in compiling their new collection of their 10 most significant articles on strategy (Must-Reads on Strategy, [Harvard Business Press, 2009]), chose to devote half the volume to articles about execution.

And rightly so!