Tag Archives: Strategy
What is strategy?
What’s wrong with strategy? So many definitions, so much complexity. Nobody really knows what strategy really is.
So, what is strategy?
To me strategy is not pursuing a detailed plan step by step, it is finding or creating options that give me an advantage at any moment.
Let me explain why:
The world is full of people looking for a secret formula to success and power. They don’t want to think on their own; they just want the recipe to follow. For this very reason they are attracted to the idea of strategy.
In their minds strategy is a series of steps to be followed toward a goal. They want these steps spelled out for them by some expert or guru. Believing in the power of imitation, they want to know what others have done before. Their maneuvers in life are as mechanical as their thinking. They are predictable.
The essence of strategy is not to carry out a brilliant plan that proceeds in steps; it is to put yourself in situations where you have more options than everyone else. Instead of going for A as the single right answer, true strategy is positioning yourself to be able to do A, B or C depending on the situation.
Our society values people who have the right answer but in reality there is no single right answer, there are many. At any moment one approach can be better than the other, being aware of this is what separates true strategists from the one’s following a game plan.
Do you agree? What’s your definition of strategy? This is an important topic, let’s get a discussion going!
What a cave diver can teach us about leapfrogging the competition
I was looking at some very awesome cave diving pictures last week and one in particular caught my attention not because of the picture itself but because of the story behind it:
The diver in this photo has descended about 20 feet into the opening of Devil’s Eye Spring. Without carrying breathing gas, free divers can usually swim down only about 40 to 45 feet, but Heinerth says that a few brave souls venture further. “In Russia, I met a guy who they nicknamed ‘Aqua Man,’” she said. “In water temperature just above freezing, Aqua Man would put on a wetsuit, enter the cave, and swim a couple of hundred feet before surfacing to sip from an air pocket on the ceiling of the cave. Then he’d free dive even further in, eventually getting 300 feet into the cave with no air. He was free diving by leap-frogging from air pocket to air pocket inside the cave.” Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Obviously there’s no such thing as Aqua Man but clearly this person is called such for the feat he accomplishes. Any skilled diver can stay underwater longer by swimming from air pocket to air pocket, but because of the uncertainty of the unknown (as well as the chill) nobody is likely to try it in a cave.
What separates Aqua Man from the rest is his mental preparation. How do I know this?
Because Aqua Man has the same abilities that the other divers have, mainly to be a competent swimmer and have great control of respiration.
The ability to stay underwater and dive to depths both you and I can’t go isn’t a talent. It’s preparing your body, your mind through constant practice and then being curious as to what he might find inside the cave,
What the other divers overlooked was that there might be air pockets inside the cave. They just couldn’t see beyond their own fear!
Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna movie download
Lifeboat psp Bound by Honor (aka “Blood in, blood out”) on dvd
Key takeaway: You don’t leapfrogg the competition by beating them at their own game, you beat them by doing something they can’t do. Sometimes what they ‘can’t do’ is a fear and most of the time it’s something they’re overlooking. Exploit it!
Weekend innovation tip: Don’t out compete your rivals, change the rules of the game
Backbeat film On his way to becoming the greatest military genius to set foot on Earth, Napoleon Bonaparte broke the rules on how military campaigns were waged. From a young age he was always overlooked, to get the respect of his peers he understood he had to fight differently. In doing so he went on to rewrite the rules of military history.
Just like Napoleon we too can learn to fight ‘differently’ than our opponents, because doing so is the only way you’ll ever stand out in a world full of ‘me too thinking’.
Here are a few ways that can help you to start thinking about how to change the game in your industry:
Presentation: How Netflix fosters a culture of success
Culture Mou gaan dou III: Jung gik mou gaan ipod
View more presentations
from reed2001.
What makes your company unique? it’s not the slogan and name on your logo.
It’s the values and principles which drive your people’s behavior every single day that deliver the results. I really like when companies release details of how their culture works, it shows they are proud and confident in their people.
Some interesting points from Netflix is they value efficiency over hard work, they hire only superstars which they say helps the company focus on high performance.
They clearly know in what business they’re in.
It’s worth a look!
How to create new value in the 21st century
Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 – Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.
Looking to inject yourself with some fresh thinking?
If you’re interested in economics, competition and strategy (specifically why our economy sucks and how we got to where we are today), here’s a great speech by Umair Haque. download Big Nothing
If you haven’t been following him at his Edge Economy blog, just watch this video and you’ll understand exactly what he’s talking about in his blog.
Umair’s talk is structured around his Laws of Constructive Capitalism which I list here.
- Strategy is a commodity
- Competition is obsolete
- There is nothing more asymmetrical than an ideal
- Tomorrow is today
- Connections not transactions
- People, not product
- Creativity, not productivity
- Outcomes, not incomes
- Advantage is in the DNA
- The Next Revolution is institutional
A lot of the ideas (which he goes into a lot of detail) he discusses on his blog are presented in this speech, so do yourself a favor and watch the video.
