The RIGHT way to do strategy in an uncertain world? / Peter Compo / Ep. #215

Service Design Show

What is strategy... A plan for how you intend to achieve your goals? That's how a lot of people define strategy. But there's a problem with this rigid approach...

As Mike Tyson wisely said once: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." Most strategies are too prescriptive about how the goal needs to be achieved.

But we live in a VUCA world where it's getting harder and harder to predict what will happen, even just weeks ahead. The sphere of what an organization can control is shrinking (and control is an illusion anyway).

What seemed like a wise action last week might be irrelevant today, thanks to new technology, a sudden global crisis, or a certain election outcome...

Following your strategy in this scenario might mean you're executing what you agreed to, but it could very well lead you away from your intended goal.

So, when there is so little we can control and predict, does that mean we shouldn't do any strategizing at all? Certainly not. We just need to adopt a more emergent approach.

We still need a plan to align everyone, but one that allows for more flexibility and deciding in the moment what the right next step is.

What does this type of strategy look like, and how do we get there? That's something ​Peter Compo​ has written ​a great book​ about, and I've invited him on the Show to share his learnings with us.

We talk about:

• Why research is becoming an increasingly important capability for any organization.
• How we can know we'll achieve our goals if we don't know at the start which actions to take.
• And how to help an organization used to control and prediction embrace uncertainty and flexibility.

I know this episode will resonate with many service design professionals. It ties strongly to our mantra of "doing the right things" and not just focusing on "doing things right."

Strategy can be a very abstract term without much substance. But what I appreciated in our conversation is that Peter makes things super practical. It's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work on your strategy.

Enjoy and keep making a positive impact.

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to Episode 215

03:30 Music and emergence

06:00 How he got into writing the book

10:30 Pete's perspective in strategy

16:00 The theory of emergence

20:00 constraints & trust

26:30 Bridging the gap of uncertainty

30:30 Letting Go of Control

36:30 Examples of good metrics

41:00 False learning organization

46:30 Trusting your team

50:30 Aspiration-bottleneck triad

57:00 another recommendation

59:00 Strategy matrix

01:04:00 Personal Impact on writing

01:09:00 Resources

1:11:00 Question to ponder

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercompo/
• The Emergent Approach to Strategy (book) by Peter Compo - www.emergentapproach.com
• Peter Compo Music - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJsn2zbnx8dwvHJrisdkAtg

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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