Category Archives: Strategy

STRATEGY: Exchange the role of guest for host

in Career, competition, Strategy, Wisdom

cobra

 

Look beyond the immediate battle and build on a position of weakness to take control.

 

I was watching my favorite childhood cartoon movie, GI Joe, yesterday and was reminded of a very powerful strategy that the terrorist organization Cobra uses in most of the cartoons that can be applied in business. If you’re not familiar with GI Joe, Cobra Commander is the leader of the terrorist group know as Cobra and Destro is his 2nd in command (both are in the picture above) but in the movie Destro is the commander while Cobra Commander is the brains behind the weapons they’ll use to takeover the world.

The MARS (aka Cobra) organization is the world’s largest supplier of weapons and Destro is it’s CEO. Cobra Commander takes an inferior position by being able to use Destro’s resources to build a technologically advanced terrorist organization that is of his own making.

This is important to know because Cobra Commander is really just waiting in the wings for Destro’s downfall to take over. Up to this point every weapon Destro’s MARS organization has was designed by Cobra Commander himself and as any good strategist has been influencing every decision the organization has taken before he takes power.

When he finally takes power nothing really changes since he’s planned all of this from the beginning to be this way.

 

This strategy is called ‘’.

 

This is a very powerful strategy because you start by seeming weaker than the person or business you are trying to take, but in doing so you build on a position of weakness to take control. It’s a deceptive strategy but when well executed opens up a lot of options for you because in reality you are the one in control when giving it up.

 

Microsoft was born from taking a subordinate position to IBM.

 

Why this is important to you.

Because you want something and there’s always going to be obstacles standing in your way and most of the time you lack the patience to see the bigger picture. Your natural instincts will tell you to focus on the present and the faster you can get what you want the better, instead look at the big picture and see how taking an inferior position right now can benefit you in the long run by using others resources to your benefit.

 

There are endless applications of this devastating strategy, have you used this strategy before?

What is strategy? Part deux

in Strategy

what is strategy

“Anyone can plan a campaign, but few are capable of waging war, because only a true military genius can handle the developments and circumstances.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

There’s was a last week, and I thought I put some more thought into it and clarify my point of view that strategy does require planning, but only to prepare your mind.

? I’ve talked about this before and defined strategy as:

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.…

Gary Hamel: How to stay ahead of change

in Strategy
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An adaptable company is always reinventing itself, always pioneering new markets.

I’ve been writing a lot about (also and ) recently and with good reasons, it’s THE most important skill any business or person can have. Prof. Gary Hamel published a couple of blog posts that he calls his never-to-be published book on , it is separated into 6 chapters of which here are the main ideas of each:

 

  1. It’s hard to out-run the future if you don’t see it coming.
  2. To change an organization you must first change minds.
  3. To give up the bird in the hand you must first see a flock in the bush.
  4. Nimble and quick beats big and beefy.
  5. Surrender your freedoms reluctantly; guard your liberties diligently.
  6. You have to build adaptability into your company’s DNA.

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Are you meeting change head on or are you staying ahead of it?

Build your innovation team around 3 types of innovators

in Strategy
Innovation Team Topic01 3 Innovator Types Superman movie download

The Hearse movie download

Recent research suggests that an is made up of certain characteristics, the fun part is putting these people together in a team and letting the sparks fly. Companies such as design powerhouse IDEO are know to have diverse types of people on their teams to source ideas from different points of views which not only helps in having a ton of ideas but also in finding converging ideas.

buy A Face in the Crowd

In the presentation above Julian Keith Loren presents an interesting approach to building an innovation team by separating the specialists from the generalists.

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What do you think?

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Adapt and achieve

in Strategy

Omen IV: The Awakening hd

 

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc divx Adaptability is the best skill you can have. Basketball is a game of rhythm, you set the pace at which you want to play and force the other team to adapt. If your familiar with basketball drills, in basketball practice we have what’s called rolling waves where the goal is to score the most times to stay on the court, the challenge is to play teams that constantly change players so you never face the same team twice. The game is continuous and doesn’t stop until your team loses and then the winner keeps playing.

 

This makes it very interesting because not only does your team have to adapt but your opponent also has to adapt to their new members. It forces you to play everyone differently as opposed to accepting how the game should be played, you change the game by modifying the rhythm and never showing the same play over and over again.

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Improvisation is your best weapon.

 

The Hearse dvd

The point is you don’t want to fall into predictable patterns of play, never using the same play again because it worked before but rather make it difficult for your opponent to read you by changing your approach continuously.

 

The ability to play outside other’s experience is THE supreme skill in any strategists arsenal because your opponent will never know what you’ll do next. Change your approach continuously and accept that .

 

Key takeaway: Blood Diamond video

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Storm of the Century video

Adapt or die

in Strategy, Success

A few days ago I found myself reading one of the many posts out there about X reasons why brands refuse to embrace social media. The truth is many companies are already irrelevant because they fail to see the world as continuously evolving.

First it’s important to understand that as humans we are taught to see everything as a phase because it makes it easier for us to make sense of things by being able to separate one event from the others. The problem with this way of thinking is it tries to make everything predictable in the short term by not focusing on the long term consequences.

Win today and don’t worry about tomorrow.

Adaptability requires a you to see events as continuous, not linear. For an adaptable company change is always happening, not just between events. The objective of being adaptable is to be able to win as many times as possible but not worry about winning every single battle.

Stories abound of companies that became irrelevant because they , choosing to follow a predictable death. Most of these companies waited until chaos arrived to make adjustments and others clinged to the past. Why wait until chaos comes knocking on your door, and it should be part of your strategy because if you don’t adapt you’re already irrelevant.

Action step:

An exercise that always works wonders is showing people a vision where they no longer exist because they failed to adapt. Try it yourself, grab a few people from your office and ask them about the challenges facing your business:

  • What they’re most afraid of?
  • What keeps them up at night?

If they don’t have a clear answer for both, you’re already in trouble because you’re sitting in a very comfortable position and nothing is challenging your business.

What do you think? What actions do you take to make your business adaptable?