strategy assessment

What is strategy, anyway?

The word “strategy” means different things to different people, from:

“Ouch, it hurts, fix it-now!,” to

“We want to sell off “loser” units without a lot of noise and fuss. Can you give us a plausible rationale?,” to

“New types of competitors are making inroads in our core markets. We need to make sense of what is happening and decide on a course of action.”

The varied operating definitions of strategy notwithstanding, we use a ‘robust’ approach that works even when most beginning assumptions turn out to be unfounded. Our methods are iterative and respectful of all stakeholders. This means we rarely, if ever, take the “presenting problem” (see above) at face value.

Respect matters, since the priorities of groups like employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders are often at odds. Yet, rejection of the strategy by any one of them can engender its demise. In addition, the success of any strategy is contingent on its enthusiastic adoption by those who will be expected to put it into practice. Sometimes, faith in a leader is enough to engender such enthusiasm. Sometimes fear is enough to energize “the troops,” if temporarily. The fact remains, however, that authentic ‘take-up’ is the engine of success. It cannot be mandated; only given freely. A brilliantly conceived strategy enjoying only grudging acceptance will quickly find its home in a large binder, on a bookshelf, gathering dust. Yet, a flawed strategy powered by passion can succeed beyond its creators' wildest dreams.

Thus, we build strategy with our clients and their stakeholders in a process that includes rigorous analysis of data about markets, trends, customers, and products--as well as close, careful attention to building relationships that will inspire and motivate success.