Strategy is Imagination - Making Strategy Fun Again (Part 1)

 

Strategy can be a drag, no? Flat, boring & superficial directives from on high prepared by disinterested technocrats, or even worse, by LLMs pretending to be human. You’ve probably seen the (dis)engagement data.  If you haven’t, give any AI engine the following prompt: ‘What is the current level of engagement in multinational corporations?’ – and run for cover.

Strategy is a big part of the problem, and over the next several articles, I ask ‘what’s wrong with strategy & how do we fix it’.

Strategy development, deployment & execution should be bracing, exciting and engrossing.  A process wherein you embrace your biggest challenges. Who are we? What are we really trying to accomplish? What are our main blockers & what do we do about them? What management systems and capabilities do we need to build to tackle them?

If such questions don’t engage us, is there any zest, brio or magic left in our working lives?

Strategy is Imagination

Strategy is the domain of the Dreamer, Artist, Hipster and Non-Conformist.  To paraphrase Aristotle, strategy is a place where things can be ‘other than they are’. And yet too often strategy comprises dry analysis performed remotely by disinterested people (or worse, AI) who don’t know or care that much about the business, and certainly not the essential ‘knicks & knacks’ behind a magic piece of hardware, software or service.

Remote technocrats with no skin in the game not only spoil the dish – they drive everybody in the kitchen crazy and eventually turn them off completely.  Hence, the global (dis)engagement scores. I’ve written elsewhere that widely used methods like OKR are prone to this syndrome. What’s the ‘View from the Floor’? Let me quote a team leader in a major bank: ‘Here’s another dumb thing they want us to do.’

Strategy is Storytelling

So, what’s the remedy?  Storytelling – strategy begins and ends there.  A strategy is tale with a beginning, middle and end.  It has a clearly defined shape, internal dramas, peaks & valleys and a hopefully satisfying resolution.  Strategy exists in Aristotle’s ‘World of Contingency’ – a place where things can be ‘other than they are’.  Analysis informs & validates the story, but a human beings shape it, feel it, and commit themselves to it.

There are no ‘new stories’ – researchers around the world agree on this. Some argue for seven basic plots, others cite six emotional arcs, and still others 36 basic dramatic situations. But everyone agrees there are no new story plots, emotional arcs or dramatic situations.

The same is true for strategy. In earlier articles I introduced the ‘Stick’ & most strategies comprise some permutation of its core elements. What makes a strategy compelling is the story.  How well have the strategy leader & team grasped the situation confronting them?  How well have they articulated their aspiration and winning logic?  How deep is their understanding of the conditions that must be true for this to work? How passionate is this team & leader?  Do we trust them to stay the course through the inevitable setbacks, disappointments and unforeseen disasters?

What makes for a great story? Compelling characters and their interaction, meaningful conflict, and emotional resonance.  A great strategy is pitch for the future, full of drama around ‘What Is’ versus ‘What Could Be’.  Great strategies have hooks, crises, heroes & villains, turning points, magical tools, self-realization, and a call to action.  Great strategies, like great pitches, are memorable: they pull you and fire you up.

In summary, strategy is imagination & synthesis. If you can turn your strategic problem into a compelling narrative, you’ve taken the first step towards achievement. More to come.

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org