Creating Strategic Impact:
Questions of Business Strategy and
Business Survival
By
Mike Brown
I was recently discussing the principles of creating strategic impact with a senior executive at dinner. I mentioned the shift The Brainzooming Group has experienced in the past 12 months with many more requests for strategic thinking workshops versus previous years. She said it was because the focus the past few years for most organizations had been on business survival. Because of this, she sensed companies didn’t have time for strategy.
My response was, “So since they were focused on business survival, approaching decisions with no rhyme or reason was the best option?”I was only being half flippant.
I understand her statement. It comes from the belief many business executives have that business strategy is a luxury; they see strategy as the layer on top after they have today (and maybe tomorrow) figured out for the organization. THEN, an organization has time to pursue strategy—which the organization defines as things that happen in the future.
While I understand where the belief comes from, it’s completely wrong-headed.
Creating Strategic Impact
Business strategy isn’t about long-term or short-term.
Strategy, as we define and work with clients on developing it, involves “addressing what matters with insight and innovation.” And what could be more core to business survival than “addressing what matters with insight and innovation”?
Heaven help a business that thinks addressing things that may or may not matter with conventional wisdom and status quo tactics is the key to business survival. If that’s the case, they aren’t long for the world.
Business Strategy and Business Survival
Business Strategy isn’t the layer on top.
Strategy is the foundation that directs your organization toward maximizing what makes you successful. Strategy helps the organization act to realize success AND ANTICIPATE and avoid disasters—the disasters awaiting businesses mistakenly thinking they are going to be successful without the benefit of strategic thinking.
If your organization finds itself in this business strategy and business survival trap right now, call us. We’ll help get you out of it, creating the strategic impact that’s at the heart of business success.
Mike Brown is the founder of the Brainzooming Group. He has been at the forefront of leading Fortune 500 culture change, contributing new approaches in research, developing simplified tools for innovation, strategy planning, and aligning sales, marketing, and communications strategies for maximum business results. Additionally, he’s won multiple awards for his strategic brand-building approach to customer experiences in NASCAR and conference event marketing efforts.
