You’ve just landed in a foreign city you’ve never been to before. You hire a car to drive to your hotel. But you have no map, no GPS, and no idea where your hotel is. So you decide to drive really fast, assuming speed will somehow get you there quicker.
Of course, no-one would do that. So why do we do this in business? Facing an uncertain future, many adopt new technologies with only a vague sense of what they’re trying to achieve. Then they focus on moving fast with it, assuming speed will compensate for a lack of direction.
Action without direction is wasteful. How do you know you’re making progress if you don’t know where you’re heading? It’s as wasteful as a traditional strategy session that concluded with decisions that were never executed.
Heroic leaders solve this problem by becoming the organisation’s compass — providing direction day after day. If they’re experienced, this can work for a while. But success becomes a trap, as talent defaults to the leader, who becomes the bottleneck — and decision quality declines.
What then must we do?
Why This, Not That
In this series of short articles we’ve established the foundations for real strategic thinking:
Now we have to pressure-test those moves to decide why this move over that one:
Is this move desirable? — do the users we care about actually want this, enough to choose us and keep choosing us? And are those users valuable enough to justify the effort?
Is this move feasible? — can we execute this with the resources and capabilities we have, or can acquire, without breaking the business? And can we learn fast enough to make it real?
Is this move viable? — will this create enduring value we can capture, even if rivals respond? Or will it be copied, neutralised, or competed away before it compounds?
We turn these objections into questions that we can research and test. This is what strategy sessions are for: exposing assumptions, surfacing hidden risks, and comparing choices before making commitments — so we can eventually say, with a higher level of confidence:
We’ve chosen these moves over those, for these reasons.
Now we have a real strategy for getting where we want to go.
Quick Test
Think of a major strategic focus in your organisation. Can you explain why you’re doing this -- and why you chose this over any alternatives?
If not, you may be hoping brilliant execution (driving fast) makes up for a lack of strategy (a shared map of the landscape and an agreed direction).
Next Up
How to turn choices into strategic action — and shape changing conditions to our advantage.
To follow this series subscribe to the blog and f you found this post useful share it with others.
Of course, no-one would do that. So why do we do this in business? Facing an uncertain future, many adopt new technologies with only a vague sense of what they’re trying to achieve. Then they focus on moving fast with it, assuming speed will compensate for a lack of direction.
Action without direction is wasteful. How do you know you’re making progress if you don’t know where you’re heading? It’s as wasteful as a traditional strategy session that concluded with decisions that were never executed.
Heroic leaders solve this problem by becoming the organisation’s compass — providing direction day after day. If they’re experienced, this can work for a while. But success becomes a trap, as talent defaults to the leader, who becomes the bottleneck — and decision quality declines.
What then must we do?
Why This, Not That
In this series of short articles we’ve established the foundations for real strategic thinking:
- Owners set the direction — the Grand Strategy the business exists to pursue
- Leaders translate that into missions — aims to achieve and problems to solve
- Talent builds situational awareness — seeing the landscape clearly, and how it’s changing
- Identifying moves — actions that realise our missions and moves us towards our vision.
Now we have to pressure-test those moves to decide why this move over that one:
Is this move desirable? — do the users we care about actually want this, enough to choose us and keep choosing us? And are those users valuable enough to justify the effort?
Is this move feasible? — can we execute this with the resources and capabilities we have, or can acquire, without breaking the business? And can we learn fast enough to make it real?
Is this move viable? — will this create enduring value we can capture, even if rivals respond? Or will it be copied, neutralised, or competed away before it compounds?
We turn these objections into questions that we can research and test. This is what strategy sessions are for: exposing assumptions, surfacing hidden risks, and comparing choices before making commitments — so we can eventually say, with a higher level of confidence:
We’ve chosen these moves over those, for these reasons.
Now we have a real strategy for getting where we want to go.
Quick Test
Think of a major strategic focus in your organisation. Can you explain why you’re doing this -- and why you chose this over any alternatives?
If not, you may be hoping brilliant execution (driving fast) makes up for a lack of strategy (a shared map of the landscape and an agreed direction).
Next Up
How to turn choices into strategic action — and shape changing conditions to our advantage.
To follow this series subscribe to the blog and f you found this post useful share it with others.
