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 23Q3-24Q1
Every year, I create three main presentations. For 2023, they are:
Delusions of determinism: Why planning for success leads to failure
Regression toward the meme: Why modern leadership continues to fall into old traps
Under pressure: Retail in a new financial era
If you want to book me for your event, workshop, or corporate speaking slot, just send me an email. To make sure I am available, however, please do so at your earliest convenience; my schedule is filling up fast - and I will be raising my prices at the end of the year.
More information can be found here.
World wide webinars
As previously promised, and as a way of introducing some of the ideas that we will discuss in our new book, Steve and I will soon begin hosting a number of online seminars. Among the topics that we will discuss - each in its own session - are how we got where we are (the scandalous nature of relevant history), why companies struggle as a result, and how to shift to an adaptive strategy to turn the tide.
Setting them up requires a bit of preparation, for obvious reasons. For one, due to time zone differences (we have subscribers from almost all corners of the world), the events would need to take place either during the morning (9-10am CET) or evening (9-10pm CET). If would be interested in joining, please let me know when would be best for you:
Moving on.
A shared understanding of success
Strategy requires aspiration
Today, I thought that we would begin to discuss the ABCDE framework. Before we do, however, a caveat: I will not discuss all of it, nor will I go into practical detail. The reason, as I am sure you have already figured out, is that it will be in the book. While giving everything away before it is out would satisfy my urge to share our work publicly - and believe me, I would love to do that - it simply would not be financially non-moronic.
Fortunately, there are still plenty of things that I feel comfortable sharing, such as the meaning of the first letter in the ABCDE framework: aspiration. So let us begin there.
At its most fundamental level, every business endeavor has to have a raison d’être, a reason to exist, however basic. Without one, there is per definition no commercial enterprise; no sales will be made until the decision to start selling has been. Ot to put it differently, short of a decision to sell shortbread, there will be a shortbread shortage.
Similarly, inherent to all strategies is that they seek to achieve something, whether directly or obliquely, explicitly or implicitly. Importantly, that does not mean that they all strive to reach an idealized end state, but they too must have a reason to exist.
Even the purest of emergent strategies fail to provide an exception. A pattern in actions taken over time (to use Mintzberg’s universally acknowledged definition) requires practical coherence in order to be distinguishable from randomness, that is, a consistency of signal to be separable from the surrounding noise. That it is only visible in retrospect is irrelevant. If we are not looking for anything, nothing will emerge to be seen.
The problem is that far too few companies properly consider the why of their movement, instead favoring a laundry list of goals that serve little purpose beyond ensuring that there is something for everyone. It is the Oprah Winfrey approach to strategy; you get a target, and you get a target, and you, well, you get the idea.
It is but a recipe for mediocrity. The point of the strategic exercise is to move the firm in a wanted direction. By obvious necessity, this requires that one first defines such a direction – an aspiration that goes beyond the objective.
The etymological root of the locution is the Latin aspirationem (nominative aspiratio), which can be translated to "a breathing on, a blowing upon; rough breathing; influence". In the early 1600s, it came to mean "a steadfast longing for a higher goal, earnest desire for something above one" (sometimes collectively, as aspirations). In other words, aspirations reflect one’s overarching ambition; what one is trying to achieve in either pragmatic or abstract terms. They can therefore be said to provide, almost literally, the oxygen that fuels subsequent behavior.
For organizations, aspirations should facilitate a shared understanding of success. The phrase is pivotal.
Firstly, aspirations should enable an understanding, not merely a definition, of success. The implications are as obvious as they are profound. If employees do not understand what the aspiration entails, it will be a theoretical construct without practical value.
Secondly, aspirations should be fractal, i.e., be equally defined, understood, and relevant, regardless of where in the organization they are applied. It is only then that they can be shared.
Thirdly, aspirations should inform direction while permitting measurement to ensure that the company is heading in said direction at an acceptable pace. This is only possible if they are understood and shared.
The hallmark of an excellent aspiration is thus balance. On one hand, it cannot be so prescriptive that it becomes rigid and thereby limits invaluable adaptability. On the other, it cannot be so abstract that it becomes universal, applicable to any company, in any industry, at any time.
In practice, companies tend to err on the side of abstraction by writing so-called vision statements. These are, admittedly, not all intended to provide direction; some offer legitimization (signaling to existing and potential shareholders that the company is pursuing activities “in a proper way”), others supposed employee motivation (and a handy interview question with a clearly correct answer).
But a why of movement is not the same thing as what one might call a Sinekian why. Grand visions, for all their popularity, rarely allow shared understandings of success.
Take Starbucks’ “inspire and nurture the human spirit” and WeWork’s “elevate the world’s consciousness”, for example. Neither statement carries any obvious meaning or connotation, which means they are not easily understood. As a result, employees are likely to have their own interpretations, which in turn means that they (per definition) cannot be shared. The phrases are also both impossible to measure. How would you track whether an action taken inspired and nurtured the human spirit? What performance indicator would you use to establish the altitude of the world’s consciousness?
The counterargument that I face most frequently is that companies need to “inspire the troops”. But despite the claims made by those who wish to sell you their services, employees do not get their values from organizations (on the contrary; organizations get their values from employees), nor are they so ego-deficient that someone must routinely, grandiosely, recast their humble yet important achievements as feats of historical significance. Customers desperate for morning java as they make their way the office do not want it with a dash of inspiration any more than they wish to have their consciousness elevated after they have arrived.
It is not personal; it is business.
What is important in strategy is not false grandioseness but real pragmatism. Next week, we will therefore continue our discussion with a couple of practical illustrations.
Until then, have the loveliest of weekends.
Onwards and upwards,
JP
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