Why Do ‘Smart’ People Struggle with Strategy?

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

I’ve been coaching senior executives for more than a decade now.

Good, fun work with smart, fundamentally decent people. (If they’re not, I skedaddle.)

But you know what? The smarter they are, the more they struggle with strategy! Strange, no? Here’s a critical leadership skill for which excessive smartness can be a liability!

What’s going on? Well, most of these folks have gotten to where they are by having the right answer, and by proving thereby, that they’re the proverbial ‘smartest people in the room’.

But in strategy, there is no right answer. In any complex industry or field of endeavour, there are too many variables, too many unknowns.

In chess, arguably our greatest strategy game, the number of potential positions exceeds the number atoms in the universe.

Given such complexity, Is there a right answer? Of course not – there is only a right process. And this process, which I’ve tried to describe in my books [Andy & Me and the Hospital, and Getting the Right Things Done] includes the following steps:

1. Define purpose clearly
2. Identify the major obstacles & needed capabilities
3. Articulate a hypothesis
4. Run the hypothesis and quickly adjust based on what happens
5. Keep going till you reach your objective

By contrast, if senior leader is fixated on finding out the ‘right answer’, (and telling people how to effect it), bad things can happen:

• The activities that make up the false plan are, at the very least, a waste of time and energy
• The management team can stop caring
• Front line team members, who often have a better understanding of the problem, can become cynical
• “Here comes another brilliant top-down initiative”
• “Our leaders are bozos – we’re doomed”

In summary, in strategy there is no right answer. There is only a right process.

Here are some corollaries:

• Diversity in a management team is a good thing. More viewpoints bring a deeper understanding
• There’s no need to seek perfection in strategy – it doesn’t exist
• Seek to develop a shared understanding of the problem, and of our overall approach to solving it
• Admit you don’t know, and go see for yourself to better understand your purpose, obstacles and needed capabilities
• Be humble, for heaven’s sake

More to come.

Best wishes,

Pascal




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

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Want to Make Better Decisions? Simplify…

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

Developing and deploying strategy entails hundreds or even thousands of decisions in a given year.

How do we make better decisions? (Can we raise our decision-making accuracy to six sigma levels – 3.4 defects per million decisions?)

Start by simplifying the chess board. Eliminate trivial, marginal, unnecessary and wasteful activities and factors.

In Chess, if you’re up a pawn on a full chessboard, a sure path to victory is to gradually simplify.

Eventually, your pawn and King face the opponent’s King, and victory is close.

Simplification in business serves the same purpose – the essentials stand out in sharp relief.

We can begin to focus.

In our wired world, simplification is counter-intuitive. If we remove stuff from our chessboard, if we clean up our various ‘screens’, we feel we’re missing something.

(Our motto seems to be “A finger in every pie!”. But that leaves us with sticky fingers and a ruined pies!)

If you accept my premise, the next question is: “How do we simplify?”

An excellent start is to reflect and confirm our Purpose.

What are we trying to achieve? What’s our Shining City on the Hill?

Define Purpose with drawings, dashboards, words and music if need be. Purpose clear as crystal eases simplification.

In Chess, purpose is clear – checkmate the opponent’s King!

We have to make our business Purpose as clear, and then communicate it gently, engagingly and repeatedly.

Simplification inevitably follows.

Best,

Pascal


In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

How do Adults Learn?
Back to Basics – Visual Management
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In Chess & Business, Lies & Hypocrisy Do Not Last Long

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

I paraphrase the great Emmanuel Lasker, philosopher, mathematician, and world chess champ from 1894 to 1920.

I encourage you all to play chess. It’s fun, engrossing and wonderful for the mind. Chess’s wildly romantic history and mythology is an added bonus.

(Nowadays you can download grandmaster level chess programs on to your Pad!)

One of the great charms of chess is its binary nature.

You win or lose based on

• The strength of your ideas, and
• Your skill & courage in implementing them

Is Lasker's maxim true in business?

In small business, I'd say Yes.

Our success or failure depends on the depth of our strategic understanding, and the energy & intelligence with which we execute.

(Luck plays a part too, of course, as always & everywhere.)

How about BIG business?

Based on my experience, I'd say Yes - with important reservations.

Monopoly, oligopoly, and market rigging (e.g. to keep competition out) are all too common.

(The countermeasure is intelligent regulation in accord with the "Less is More" principle)

Another exception is large companies suffering from Big Company Disease, the villain in my last book, The Remedy.

Perhaps the greatest power of the Toyota management system (aka "Lean") is its ability to make problems visible.

Lasker might add, "thereby, we expose lies & hypocrisy."

Good Lean companies are thus, a meritocracy. The best & brightest prosper, and bozos are exposed.

Play chess, have fun, kick butt and take names.

Best,

Pascal

Why Do ‘Smart’ People Struggle with Strategy?

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

I’ve been coaching senior executives for more than a decade now.

Good, fun work with smart, fundamentally decent people. (If they’re not, I skedaddle.)

But you know what? The smarter they are, the more they struggle with strategy! Strange, no? Here’s a critical leadership skill for which excessive smartness can be a liability!

What’s going on? Well, most of these folks have gotten to where they are by having the right answer, and by proving thereby, that they’re the proverbial ‘smartest people in the room’.

But in strategy, there is no right answer. In any complex industry or field of endeavour, there are too many variables, too many unknowns.

In chess, arguably our greatest strategy game, the number of potential positions exceeds the number atoms in the universe.

Given such complexity, Is there a right answer? Of course not – there is only a right process. And this process, which I’ve tried to describe in my books [Andy & Me and the Hospital, and Getting the Right Things Done] includes the following steps:

1. Define purpose clearly
2. Identify the major obstacles & needed capabilities
3. Articulate a hypothesis
4. Run the hypothesis and quickly adjust based on what happens
5. Keep going till you reach your objective

By contrast, if senior leader is fixated on finding out the ‘right answer’, (and telling people how to effect it), bad things can happen:

• The activities that make up the false plan are, at the very least, a waste of time and energy
• The management team can stop caring
• Front line team members, who often have a better understanding of the problem, can become cynical
• “Here comes another brilliant top-down initiative”
• “Our leaders are bozos – we’re doomed”

In summary, in strategy there is no right answer. There is only a right process.

Here are some corollaries:

• Diversity in a management team is a good thing. More viewpoints bring a deeper understanding
• There’s no need to seek perfection in strategy – it doesn’t exist
• Seek to develop a shared understanding of the problem, and of our overall approach to solving it
• Admit you don’t know, and go see for yourself to better understand your purpose, obstacles and needed capabilities
• Be humble, for heaven’s sake

More in the blogs to come.

Best wishes,

Pascal

Reprise: In Chess (& Small Business) Lies & Hypocrisy Do Not Last Long

By Pascal Dennis

I paraphrase the great Emmanuel Lasker, philosopher, mathematician, and world chess champ from 1894 to 1920.

One of the great charms of chess is its binary nature.

You win or lose based on

• The strength of your ideas, and
• Your skill & courage in implementing them

(Note: nowadays you can download grandmaster level chess programs on to your iPad!)

Is Lasker's maxim true in business?

In small business, I'd say Yes.

Our success or failure depends on the depth of our strategic understanding, and the energy & intelligence with which we execute.

(Luck plays a part too, of course, as always & everywhere.)

How about BIG business?

Based on my experience, I'd say Yes - with important reservations.

Monopoly, oligopoly, and market rigging (e.g. to keep competition out) are all too common.

(The countermeasure is intelligent regulation in accord with the "Less is More" principle)

Another exception is large companies suffering from Big Company Disease, the villain in my last book, The Remedy

Perhaps the greatest power of the Toyota Business System (aka "Lean") is its ability to make problems visible.

Lasker might add, "thereby, we expose lies & hypocrisy."

Good Lean companies are thus, a meritocracy.

The best & brightest prosper, and bozos are exposed.

Best,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

One More on Strategy & Chess

By Pascal Dennis

Our regular readers may know that I regard chess as a fine metaphor for Strategy & Strategy Deployment.

Confession: I was a teenage nerd. When regular (sensible) guys were joining the football team, I was joining the chess club & choir, which brought much abuse my way -- most of it warranted…

To be fair, chess (and choir) were fun and have provided me with some modest skill & insight.

Here’s a fine piece by Peter Coy on how chess insight might be applied to the Ukraine crisis.

(Gary Kasparov’s terrific Wall Street Journal piece is also worth a look.)

An interesting analysis, no?

If Coy and Kasparov are correct, making things tough on the 140 or so oligarchs that keep Putin afloat should put enormous pressure on him.

The trick, Coy suggests, as in the Cuban Missile Crisis, is to leave Putin some face-saving cards to win.

I would add that, as always, the most important thing is to clearly define Purpose.

You can’t win if you don’t know what you’re playing for.

In chess, the purpose is clear – checkmate the other fellow’s king.

What’s the US and EC’s Purpose in the Ukraine crisis?

The stakes are high. Let’s see what happens.

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Want to Make Better Decisions? Simplify…

By Pascal Dennis

Our recent blogs on Strategy & Dieting have generated fine feedback - thanks everyone!

Today I’d like to continue in the same vein.

Developing and deploying strategy entails hundreds or even thousands of decisions in a given year.

How do we make better decisions? (Can we raise our decision-making accuracy to six sigma levels – 3.4 defects per million decisions?)

Start by simplifying the chess board. Eliminate trivial, marginal, unnecessary and wasteful activities and factors.

In Chess, if you’re up a pawn on a full chessboard, a sure path to victory is to gradually simplify.

Eventually, your pawn and King face the opponent’s King, and victory is close.

Simplification in business serves the same purpose – the essentials stand out in sharp relief.

We can begin to focus.

In our wired world, simplification is counter-intuitive. If we remove stuff from our chessboard, if we clean up our various ‘screens’, we feel we’re missing something.

(Our motto seems to be “A finger in every pie!”. But that leaves us with sticky fingers and a ruined pies!)

If you accept my premise, the next question is: “How do we simplify?”

An excellent start is to reflect and confirm our Purpose.

What are we trying to achieve? What’s our Shining City on the Hill?

Define Purpose with drawings, dashboards, words and music if need be. Purpose clear as crystal eases simplification.

In Chess, purpose is clear – checkmate the opponent’s King!

We have to make our business Purpose as clear, and then communicate it gently, engagingly and repeatedly.

Simplification inevitably follows.

Best,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

In Chess (& Small Business) Lies & Hypocrisy Do Not Last Long

By Pascal Dennis

I paraphrase the great Emmanuel Lasker, philosopher, mathematician, and world chess champ from 1894 to 1920.

One of the great charms of chess is its binary nature.

You win or lose based on

• The strength of your ideas, and
• Your skill & courage in implementing them

(Note: nowadays you can download grandmaster level chess programs on to your Pad!)

Is Lasker's maxim true in business?

In small business, I'd say Yes.

Our success or failure depends on the depth of our strategic understanding, and the energy & intelligence with which we execute.

(Luck plays a part too, of course, as always & everywhere.)

How about BIG business?

Based on my experience, I'd say Yes - with important reservations.

Monopoly, oligopoly, and market rigging (e.g. to keep competition out) are all too common.

(The countermeasure is intelligent regulation in accord with the "Less is More" principle)

Another exception is large companies suffering from Big Company Disease, the villain in my last book, The Remedy

Perhaps the greatest power of the Toyota Business System (aka "Lean") is its ability to make problems visible.

Lasker might add, "thereby, we expose lies & hypocrisy."

Good Lean companies are thus, a meritocracy.

The best & brightest prosper, and bozos are exposed.

Best,

Pascal