Strategy
Strategic flexibility can seem like a contradiction in terms. A good strategy provides clarity of direction so an organization can be “all in” related to resources, structures, and processes. Efficiencies occur through alignment across all the company’s important activities that reinforce strategy execution. The certainty of strategy enables a company to compete with a business model that offers a significant target customer base with a unique and valuable solution. However, companies often discover over time that they cannot defend their market position or that a significant target market finds their offerings less valuable and unique. When that happens, flexibility becomes a…
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Strategy
Reaching a good decision when facing a complex and uncertain situation is one of the fundamental roles of a leader. Typically, this requires a series of well-run meetings that progress the discussion until a workable solution is identified and embraced. However, despite this being a common process in organizational life, most people would say it seldom operates smoothly and frequently leads to less optimal solutions and lukewarm implementation.
Bob Woodward has made a career of writing about the inner workings of the White House. His reporting is so in-depth, you wonder how he manages…
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Strategy
Rock musicians are rarely who we look to for examples of strategic thinkers. In the genre’s heavy hitters such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Jimi Hendrix, we find careers and even lives lost to scandals, drugs, and burnout. The typical American image of a rock star tends to be someone that exists in the moment, lives hard, and likely does not plan for the future. In spite of this, strategic thinking would seem a necessity in the music industry – one of the most competitive areas imaginable.
Most highschoolers who pick up…
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Strategy
There are a some things in life most of us just didn’t see coming; movie casting choices, fashion trends, fusion restaurants. But most of the big events that shaped our generation like wars, pandemics, and financial crises provided warning signs we chose to ignore. President George W. Bush said in November 2005, “In a pandemic, everything from syringes to hospital beds, respirators, masks and protective equipment would be in short supply.” Then in 2014, President Obama said, “there may and likely will come a time in which we have an airborne disease that is deadly. And in…
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Strategy
In 1942, the British military leaders faced a very difficult choice. The war was going badly, their allies U.S. and Russia were pushing to do something bold, and British leadership didn’t see any good options. The Americans wanted to move quickly to invade France even though their troops were not battle tested. The Russians were getting hammered by the Germans and wanted Britain and the U.S. to start a second front in Europe to relieve the pressure.
The British had developed plans for a smaller invasion (Operation Jubilee) but all their military planners felt the most…
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