STRATEGY SESSIONS  #9

LIMITING ASSUMPTIONS CONCERNING STRATEGY AND STRATEGISTS

by Dr. Steve Payne

 

What comes to mind when the word “strategy” is encountered in a sentence or statement? 

People likely think about military strategies, game or sport strategies, or competitive strategies used by business firms.  They probably have assumptions such as those below:

1) Strategies are formulated by those at the top or very high in a military, government, or business organization.  Other people in these organizations merely or mostly try to carry out these strategies.

2) Those who develop strategies, such as in business and even in games of chess or bridge, are special individuals with powerful intellectual skills to anticipate many possible moves and counter-moves well in advance.

3) Strategists often compromise moral values in selecting and undertaking their decisions.  

Due to these and other common assumptions concerning strategy formulation, many people fail to recognize their own capability to develop a basic and successful strategic process for handling major challenges that they are facing.   

Strategy formulation does not have to be that analytical or complex to be helpful.  A strategy, too, is often more useful when it is fairly simple and straight-forward to understand and undertake.  Strategy can be developed by a sole individual who confronts a particular challenge and needs to find a reasonable approach to take.  We don’t have to be grand champions or authority figures to discover a useful strategy to overcome a thorny problem.  We just need to believe that some focused attention on problem solving will likely be better for us than ignoring the problem, having a defeatist attitude, or going into a panic.   

We shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.  You might not have powerful analytical skills or even experience before in using a strategic decision-making approach, but so what?  If a rough and inexperienced effort to develop a strategy improves your chance of a successful resolution of a major challenge by only some small percentage over a random choice or “shot in the dark,” it should be worth some minimal time and effort.

 

To some, the notion of trying to become more of a strategist might be a turn-off.  Some probably associate strategy and strategists with individuals who are so committed to “getting ahead” or to succeeding that they will do almost anything to reach these goals.  Of course, there are psychopaths or just those who seem willing to compromise conventional moral standards “to climb to the top over others.”  For most of us, though, our personal values and goals have strong, or at least moderate, moral components.  When we do not fully integrate these moral values and goals into our strategic thinking and decision making, then we are in some danger of losing moral direction.

 

Those who are more unethical probably do have certain competitive advantages in getting ahead or achieving conventional measures of success.  They likely have fewer obstacles and/or more options open to them in their choosing decisions and actions.  Yet associated with these advantages are risks of their actions being discovered and deemed unacceptable by others.  Choosing strategies that don’t align well with personal or social values can also bring the fear of discovery of these unethical activities by others.  Having a “skeleton in one’s closet” can mean discomfort or lack of full satisfaction with apparent success. 

 

I believe that these three and other assumptions about strategy and strategists that many people have can limit their interest in or inclination toward becoming a more strategic decision maker.  Some of us also have good intentions of becoming more thoughtful and careful regarding our major career or life decisions, but we continue to have poor “follow through” and can look back with regret at certain of these previous decisions.

STRATEGY SESSIONS

CHALLENGES TO BECOMING MORE STRATEGIC

by Dr. Steve Payne

 

I’ve been advocating the need for more strategic thinking and improved decision making in confronting personal career and life challenges. I hope that these blogs are beginning to describe what a more strategic decision process involves.

 

Marketing educators traditionally explained the difference between “impulse goods” and “shopping goods.” Impulse goods are generally inexpensive ones, and there seems little reason to spend much analysis on these purchases. Shopping goods are those costing much more,and these purchases deserve more serious analysis. As incomes and consumption levels rose in America in the last century, many Americans had more disposable income for purchasing shopping goods and luxuries. There was a tendency also for many to treat what had been formerly considered shopping goods as mere impulse purchases, or without much thinking or analysis. With troubling unemployment levels, more layoffs, and available replacement jobs often paying lower salaries, many Americans have had to reassess their purchasing decisions since about 2009.

 

There seems to me a parallel in terms of how many Americans have been making career and life decisions. Economic opportunities had been fairly plentiful for many Americans until recent years, and some important career and life decisions had been made without much careful analysis. The current economic environment suggests the need for many to reassess their approach to making career and life decisions. A more strategic focus and improved decision-making skills seem necessary to compete in these tougher times. If America was built on our competitive spirit and our founders’ wise decisions, we need to nurture and further develop such values and skills. We need better knowledge to make far-sighted career and life decisions. We have to be better prepared in order to compete better and find special niches that offer us living advantages.

 

Basic concepts and skills of strategic analysis are taught at the college-level, but these are often limited to certain business or management courses. Even for college students taking these courses, the extent to which strategic decision making processes are actually learned and then applied effectively for their important personal challenges can be questioned.  Students often "file away” and largely forget lessons from these courses -- unless they encounter particular situations that lead them to recall some of that previous learning. Regardless of the aims of formal education, there just isn't that much attention placed there on learning fundamental ways to think about and decide upon important life priorities.

 

If I were appointed as some kind of education czar, I would try to introduce the study of strategic decision-making skills as a significant part of the curricula for children at about the age of 11 or 12 years old. Students are exposed to the “scientific method” in early science courses, and exposure to such a decision-making process is valuable. Unfortunately, the scientific method doesn’t strongly take into account personal or internal elements (Step 1), aspects of the external environment (Step 2), and some concerns within Steps 3 and 4 of a truly strategic decision process. The scientific method seems much less valuable as a personal decision-making approach for the many personal temptations and challenges that teenagers and young adults, particularly, will face.

 

 

I'm surprised that more is not offered through articles in newspapers and popular magazines concerning strategies for career and life decision making. There are popular columns or features written that focus on strategies for winning games such as bridge or chess. Some of the strategies suggested on those topics can be quite complex and are applied to specific game situations. Sportswriters, too, debate strategies used by professional and college coaches. Sports talk radio hosts often allow listeners to call, ask questions, and contribute their viewpoints. There seems much less popular interest, though, devoted to strategic analysis for confronting major life and career decisions. Articles in newspapers, internet discussions, and radio programs will occasionally feature career tips or strategies, but these sources do not often explain a strategic process that can be learned and used to choose particular strategies. Instead, a laundry list of tips or ideas is given, and it is left to the reader to determine which of these might be worth trying. I’m taking a different approach to describing strategy and decision making in these blogs.