Friends,
I hope that all is well with you and yours, and that this e-mail finds you on a boat with shoddy connection, in the tropics, three months after I sent it.
Now accepting keynotes for 24Q1-24Q3
Every year, I create three main presentation decks. For 2024, they are:
What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do: How to turn uncertainty into a competitive advantage. (Based on my new book by the same name.)
Regression Toward the Meme: Why modern leadership falls into old traps - and how to avoid them.
The Efficiency Illusion: How to uncover the hidden costs of digital commerce and create profitable growth.
If you want to book me for your event, corporate speaking slot, or workshop, merely send me an email. To make sure I am available, however, please do so at your earliest convenience; my availability is limited and the schedule is filling up fast.
All presentations are adapted to fit the event. Entirely customized presentations, including topic, are available upon request at an additional cost. More information may be found here.
The year that will be
Strategy in Praxis, 2024 edition
Today’s newsletter, the first of the new year, will be the only one of its kind; there is no premium section. What I am about to discuss applies to free and paid-for content alike.
Rightly or wrongly, I believe that Strategy in Praxis relies on the relationship between you and me. Between reader and writer, yes, but also between friends of a sort. Fundamental to this rapport is trust, which in turn can only be built through openness. Whether you agree with my arguments or consider them mere incoherent ramblings of a loudmouth malcontent (I would not blame you), I therefore hope that it is at least obvious that I am coming from a place of honesty.
As I have written before, Strategy in Praxis, along with my keynote speaking, currently keeps me afloat in monetary terms. I am working hard on finishing the new book, and that means that I have had to decline client work (with a two-year old daughter, there simply is no time; I will not sacrifice her for anything). But afloat is a relative term. Ideally, I would like to increase revenue sooner rather than later.
Consequently, going forward in 2024, there will be a heavier focus on the premium section.
Now, do not get me wrong. I would never want anyone to feel as if they have no choice but to pay. One of the things that I pride myself on is to provide gratis the kind of content that would normally come with a price tag. Thus, there will still be plenty of it. But I too have bills to pay and have to prioritize those who help me pay them.
I am entirely confident that you understand.
What does this translate to?
Well, a couple of things.
For free subscribers, it means that you will receive a newsletter on a bi-weekly basis, on a theme that will change every two months. Though different, all themes will be directly related to tangible strategic challenges and coherent to praxis. That is to say, we will first establish the necessary theoretical understanding before applying it to practical circumstances.
For premium subscribers, who will continue to receive a newsletter every Friday, the same underlying idea applies (this is Strategy in Praxis, after all). However, the spotlight will shine ever brighter on the pragmatic. In addition to the standard fare (a weekly essay, deep-dive, or suchlike, plus quick-fire analyses of the market vitals), two new features will be introduced:
The Practitioner’s View, a collection of interviews with world-leading experts in various fields on everyday work-life practicalities, tools, and techniques.
The Nutcracker Suite, a community-based problem solving section in which subscribers will get the opportunity to describe particularly difficult challenges that they face (obviously without disclosing classified information, client names, and so forth). Their issue will then be highlighted in a newsletter so that other subscribers can send in their suggested solutions.
I am also toying with the idea of an all-practice podcast; more details will become available once I have information worth sharing.
To become a premium subscriber, just click here.
What about the webinars?
Fret not, more are coming.
The first two that Steve and I did received excellent (and very flattering) feedback, so we would be daft not to continue them. There is already a third - on the ABCDE and ICE frameworks, respectively - lined up (date and time to come).
I also want to do a couple of sessions on leadership. Over the course of my career, I have been fortunate to work with boards and executives, and have taken on similar leadership roles myself (be it as a vice chairman of a board, acting global head of strategy, or whatever else). Many of the challenges that organizational leaders face are direct consequences of precisely what we discuss in this newsletter. Should there be interest, I would thus be more than happy to share my reflections.
Whatever the topic, though, all webinars will be available to all subscribers. In the case of overbooking (so to speak), premium subscribers will take precedence, after which everyone else will be invited in order of declared interest. Free subscribers will always take precedence over non-subscribers.
Anything else?
Plenty.
Once the book is finished, which should not be long, Steve and I will open up our respective calendars for interviews, speeches, lectures, and workshops.
I will be contributing a chapter to another book; details to come.
James and I have begun work on our next e-commerce report (it will be our most comprehensive yet).
Christopher Leacock and I will be publishing a paper on diversity beyond affirmative action 2.0.
I will once more accept client work (thus, if you already know that you will require my services, it is undoubtedly a good idea to give me a heads up).
All of which will be discussed at relevant points in the future.
All in all, 2024 is looking to become the best in this newsletter’s history. The new setup will allow me to dig into topics with the depth that both you and they deserve, while ensuring that those who graciously choose to support me financially get value and then some for their silver.
I sincerely hope that you will join me on this new journey.
To the greatest of new years, my friends.
Onwards and ever upwards,
JP