As argued in my previous two posts, today’s world asks for strategy that is grounded. There I explained why this is the case and what being grounded means. In this post and the following ones I will discuss in more detail what this implies exactly. The first step in that is to define what we actually mean with…
DetailsIn my previous post I argued why, in today’s digital world of continuous disruption, all strategy should be grounded. I used a metaphor of a tree to sketch the overall idea of a grounded strategy and explain why being grounded is so important: to make sure that your organization does not get blown down or blown away by…
DetailsIn the series of previous posts I have extensively reviewed the traditional approach to strategy as well as five more recent developments. If you have read those posts, you know that I am generally quite critical about the status quo of the strategy discipline. More importantly, though, I hope to have shown that this is…
DetailsWe are on the verge of a revolution in strategy. While the signs are not widely acknowledged yet, they are clear. And while these signs still mostly reveal the cracking of the old system, they also give reasons for optimism that something new is on its way. Based on our strategy research, teaching, coaching and consulting,…
DetailsSimon Sinek’s book ‘Start with Why’ reflects the fifth and last solution that I will discuss in this series of posts on where strategy should go according to the strategy literature and popular business press. Even more so than Kim & Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy, Sinek’s book and his ‘Golden Circle’ are wildly popular –…
DetailsA fourth solution that is offered in the literature to save strategy from its rather problematic state, is that organizations should abandon their crowded red oceans and move to new and empty blue oceans. This has been the core message of Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne’s ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ (2005). With over 3.5 million copies sold, it…
DetailsNext to the solutions of more focus on agility and strategy execution, a third solution offered in the literature is that we should shift our attention from strategy towards business models. The core idea of this solution is that strategy is still relevant, but that it is an incomplete concept that needs the notion of a business…
DetailsAs summarized in my previous post, the first solution offered to address the concerns about the state of strategy is that strategy should become more agile. After having discusses the pros and cons of that solution there, I turn to the second solution that is offered in the strategy literature: moving from strategy towards execution. The…
DetailsIn my previous posts I summarized the broad and deep concerns about the way strategy is currently carried out. In the academic literature and popular business press we find numerous ideas for improvement. In this post and the next four, I discuss the five most important solutions that are offered. The first of these is that…
DetailsAs my four previous posts should confirm, strategy is indeed pretty much a mess – as a friend of mine called it. Or let’s say that, whether it is strategy research, strategy education, strategy consulting, or strategy practice, the current state of the field is at least not optimal… The picture that we get is that strategy…
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