Executive Digest
From the Executive Coaching Centre
The Zen of Strategy - See 2, Map 4, Figure 8
Strategy can be defined as The Art of War – it is a creative art, not a science and it is about the
long-term war not the short-term battle. A more usual definition is the underlying logic that
drives the organisation forward. A challenge for most organisations in strategy development is
not What will we do? but What will we not do? Success can take a thousand different paths, yet
trying to follow too many paths will dilute your focus and effect, usually leading to failure.
Once organisations have decided on a small number of possible strategy steps, the challenge is
often Should we do ‘A’ or ‘B’? - when both are attractive yet both have drawbacks. The Zen of
strategy formula is See 2, Map 4, Figure 8. Step 1: describe the two options (See 2). This might
be ‘A’ focus our business development on the western part of the city versus ‘B’ which is focus on
the south. Step 2: describe the value of ‘A’ and your concern about ‘A’, the value of ‘B’ and your
concern about ‘B’ (Map 4) – for example - the west part of the city is of value because we have
lots of contacts there, however the market is small – the south is a large market but we have few
contacts there. Step 3: explore all four options and think about how you can maximise the value
and minimize the concern (Figure 8)– perhaps we start in the west and build a profitable small
business, then we use these profits to invest in the slower development of the larger business in
the south. This step is called Figure 8 because the steps, as illustrated by the arrows in the
diagram below, form a figure 8 on its side. Many senior leadership teams I have coached have
found this a very useful approach to strategy development.
For other fascinating ideas see The Zen Leader by Ginny Whitelaw, Career Press, 2012.
Iain McCormick www.executivecoachingcentre.com