Strategies mean nothing if you aren't able to execute! I can't tell you how many times I've heard producers tell me they missed a sale or they wanted to make a sale up near the high, but just didn't have an order in place. In my opinion this is the craziest thing I've ever heard. This is like saying you didn't have an order in place to buy seed or fertilizer. Selling your crop is equally as important, so how can you not have a price placed on the goods you are going to sell?

Spending time analyzing the markets and building a strategy is great, but if you can't execute it's all for not. I've heard great business leaders debate for years about strategy vs. execution. Some say without a well laid out plan that allows for a series of educated choices to be put in place to help win or maximize long-term value then you never have a chance to execute as a winner. Others say you can have the greatest strategy or plan in the world but if you don't have a well-oiled plan for executing that strategy then its simply all been a waste of time.

Bottom line: Having a good strategy is important, but you cannot achieve good results without having a great plan for execution! Simply look at the High Frequency and Algo traders. Why do you think they are all fighting over micro seconds?

Something else I've learned thorough the years is that execution is a process. It is not the result of a single decision or action. It is the result of a series of integrated decisions or actions over time. Most often our ability to execute depends on how well we understand our strategy. Therefore, if we don't have a crystal clear plan and strategy in place that we completely understand, it's next to impossible to execute.

It seems to me that while strategy can be taught in the classroom, execution is learned in the school of hard knocks. Best advise: Make certain you're spending as much time improving execution as you are your strategy. As the markets look to be picking up speed and volatility in the years ahead I suspect the execution side of the equation may start to pay larger dividends.

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