On Pop-Ups, Strategy & Synergy
Occasionally I come across articles in Forbes as part of a research project and as a result I get daily about 15 Forbes pop-ups on my computer screen that I need to close down before I can get on with my work, which is irritating. Clearly I need to update my ad blocker. That said, one article of late caught my eye – “Is Strategic Thinking Dead? 5 Ways To Think Better For An Uncertain Future”. The article is written by a sociologist, Tracy Brower, which is interesting because I find that thinkers from different disciplines often have a valuable perspective on business thinking.
It chimed with something else that came across my desk at about the same time from Harvard Business Review entitled “Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want”, which in some respects touched on a similar theme to an aspect of Tracy’s article, which is the synergy between business strategy and a strategy for your own life. This is a key theme in my first book, “On Strategy”, published in 2020.
The steps you take for thinking strategically about your business are the same as they are for your life and both are worthy of your attention. Most important as a start point for any strategic thinking exercise is to be clear on your PURPOSE, a rather overused phrase in the last couple of years but absolutely key to be clear on. Most people perhaps surprisingly are not. The other principle building block of strategy development at a corporate or personal level is to identify your point of difference. Tracy’s article is clear on this too. In fact, the principles from the Forbes article are worth reprising. I’ve added my two pennies worth.
BE PURPOSE DRIVEN: Essentially you can’t have a strategy to achieve anything unless you are clear on what you want to achieve. Sounds obvious but surprisingly, many organisations including very large ones and, in my experience, the majority of individuals are NOT at all clear about this. The questions to be clear on are, “What do I want to achieve in the long term? What positive impact do I / we seek to create?” Once clear on that, the strategic thinking process is to think through how you can deliver on this using the tools you have in your armoury and even developing some new ones. That’s the thrust of a strategic plan in business and in life.
BE CURIOUS: This is about the value of always being open-minded and challenging the status quo / accepted wisdom. Ask questions and seek advice from others – keep stirring the pot with objective new perspectives on the problem / challenge. This is very good advice.
EXPLORE: Tracy recommends brainstorming lots of options, being creative and open to alternative ways of cracking the nut. It pays to take time out from the day job to debate around this with colleagues or confidants. Many of us don’t carve out the time and the default is ‘business as usual’, which self-evidently is unlikely to propel you forward on a new curve.
PUSH: I like this one because I am pushy, it comes with the territory when you found your own business. But the interesting aspect of this principle emphasised by Tracy which I particularly like is to push for clarity on how you stand out from your competitors (essentially your value proposition). She also advises to go beyond focussing on incremental improvements and efficiencies, instead to think about what’s new and what could be next? I really like this, pushing for that clarity is the focus of much of our strategy work with clients. We ask them to be really clear about what they offer which is valuable and different to their competitors. It’s hard to define this sharply and then test it for originality, you need to be tough with yourself – don’t settle for a fudge. Also, I’m impressed with the second part of the advice, ‘move beyond efficiencies’. It reminds me of sage advice from an early mentor in my corporate life, James Espey – “You can’t shrink your way to greatness!” He may have borrowed the phrase but it always stuck with me.
INVEST: In the article this is not about money but rather investing your time in the right places. I’ll second that. Tracy’s advice is to “put aside small tasks and take time to think about the bigger picture and the long-term. Create opportunities for this thinking time both individually and for your team.” She adds, “stop notifications so you can be quiet and reflective.” That said, it was one such ‘notification’ which prompted me to ponder on this article, so I would say always keep yourself open to stimuli which sets you thinking anew. Rather than being ‘always on’, organise your work schedule to allow time for exposure to new stimuli.
As a new year unfolds it might be a good time to prompt yourself to think about these fundamentals. Polish the strategy for your business and your life and think about how best you can organise your time to do that as well as delivering on the day job.