(2024-03-01) Tbm275 Bad Strategy Why

John Cutler: TBM 275: "Bad" Strategy. Why? Here are some things to consider.

A company does not have a strategy. The individuals in a company have strategies. (coalition)

What you are seeing communicated across the company is not the actual business strategy. You are seeing a negotiated narrative

To continue that thought, the strategy itself is a negotiation

For some groups of people in the company, the risks involved with an opinionated strategy—edgy, crux-focused, long-term—are unsatisfactory and not worth the effort. It doesn't meet their needs.

The thought process was not put in writing or communicated. The real strategy sits in people's brains (continuous and unconscious) and is converted to a plan, pillars, or targets/goals.

The big bet has been played (placed?), and you must go through the motions

When we consider that companies themselves are strategic bets in investment portfolios, we start to see that when you step back, many of the details you see (and stress about) as an IC or front-line manager are relatively unimportant. (thinking in bets)

• but the incoherence experience at the front line are usually the sign of incoherence above, which tends to result in a portfolio of junk

Many of the great strategies we hear about are post-facto rationalizations of emergent, very non-strategic-looking activities at the time.

Things are working too well to inspire a strategy.

So what can you do?
Focus on the decisions you must make and either advance a strategy or ask for context that might inform your strategy.