The video promotes strategic audits as a critical, best‑practice tool for CEOs, boards, and business owners. It references a 1995 Harvard Business Review article that introduced the concept and a December 2022 Faber report showing a leading company’s successful audit, illustrating that top‑performing firms prioritize strategic reviews. Dr. Walter V. Murray, CPA, DBA, PhD, explains his proprietary "Four Frames" framework, which combines his own model with best‑in‑class tools from other firms to identify strategy accelerators (elements that speed implementation) and decelerators (four recurring implementation risks that can derail a plan). He describes the rigorous, multi‑phase audit process used by Accelerate Strategy & Leadership, Inc., a firm he has run since 1990, and highlights his 30‑year audit experience, CPA credentials, and authorship of several books, including a bestseller on strategic planning. The clip uses market data (Fidelity’s stock rise on a down day) as evidence of audit impact, and ends with a call to schedule a consultation and view an FAQ video.
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A New Tool for Boards: The Strategic Audit. This article is from the July-August 1995 edition of the Harvard Business Review. That was in 1995. Of course, in 2023, a strategic review, or strategic audit, is no longer a "new" tool. It has become a widely used best practice among the best-run organizations. The CEOs, directors, and business owners at top-performing companies place a high priority on having their strategic Strategy planning audit done. This clip from a recent December 2022 Faber report highlighted a leading major and successful company conducting their strategic review. If these successful companies are getting their strategic reviews or audits done, why aren't you? Notice that on a day when the market was down by 1.35%, the stock of Fidelity was up 1.05%. This is a sign of a well-run company that uses best practices such as strategic reviews or audits.
Contact Dr. Murray at Accelerate Strategy and Leadership Inc. They have been conducting audits and reviews since 1990. Talk with Dr. Murray about how a strategy audit can help your company be successful, even when economic conditions are in decline. An audit is a more rigorous and comprehensive form of a strategic review. At Accelerate Strategy and Leadership, Inc., we use the most cutting-edge and rigorous analytical audit processes to help you identify what Dr. Murray refers to as strategy accelerators. These strategy accelerators will help put your strategic plan implementation back on the fast track to reaching your strategic objectives.
Here is an overview of the entire process, right, of all the phases and steps that we perform in order to uncover the decelerators and the accelerators in our strategy audit process. Right. The entire process is based on our proprietary framework we call the Four Frames. The Four Frames. In addition to our Four Frames framework, we have also adapted and extracted some best-in-class strategy auditing principles or paradigms or tools from other leading firms. The end product is when we do the audit, you have the combination, the power of our 4 frames plus the best from other top leading firms in strategy auditing. All right, so our process, what we do is based on a rigorous analysis, evaluation, assessment of the 4 most adverse strategy implementation risks. These are the things that could derail implementation, that could decelerate implementation, that could throw it helter skelter. All right, 4 things, and I write about these in my book called The 4 frames of strategic frameworking. I've actually observed these in practice as I coach, train, advise, consult with business owners and organizations in their strategy implementation process. I've seen over the last 30 years there are 4 recurring things that derail strategy implementation. And so we call them the 4 strategy implementation risks.
Dr. Murray is a leading expert on strategic plan implementation and has 30+ years as a Certified Public Accountant, conducting hundreds of audits. He has written several books and training programs for CEOs, senior leaders, and business owners to help them lead corporate strategy effectively and reach their corporate strategic objectives fast. One of Dr. Murray's best-selling books, Strategic Planning: From Ideation to Implementation, is available on Amazon.
Dr. Murray is looking forward to talking with you, so click the link he has provided and schedule a chat about how a strategy audit or review would work for your company. In the meantime, click the link provided and watch a short video that will answer some of the more frequently asked questions about how Dr. Murray and his team at Accelerate Strategy and Leadership, Inc. will add value to your strategic plan implementation process with a strategy audit.
