I grew up reading George Steiner on strategic planning. George didn't write or teach about SWOT, he wrote about WOTS-UP, which I think was a more colloquial and accessible way to state: weaknesses, opportunities, threats and strengths. And he used it long before Budweiser and their famous What's Up campaign. Regardless of the phrase we use, this approach to analysis has … [Read more...] about Why SWOT Isn’t As Good without Scenarios
Scenario Planning
How Twitter Could have Planned for Success
Twitter's Biz Stone bemoans the company's lack of foresight during a Tavis Smiley interview today (Twitter Co-founder: "I wish we could have predicted it.") In anticipation of this topic, I wrote: Why Start-Ups Need More Strategic Planning, and Why Investors Should Help Provide It back in December, and I think is worth a re-read today. Briefly, entrepreneurs need … [Read more...] about How Twitter Could have Planned for Success
Scenario Planning, Earthquakes and Tsunamis
Disaster Scenarios. As we send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Japan, we need to consider the role that these unthinkable events play in our lives. In Japan, earthquakes and tsunamis are not unthinkable events, they are everyday occurrences, but that commonality has not bread national complacency, rather, it has heightened awareness about how bad a big version of a … [Read more...] about Scenario Planning, Earthquakes and Tsunamis
Economic Balance Can’t Come from Sovereign State Policy Makers
Today's strategy+business article, A Continuous Quest for Economic Balance, discusses what countries must do to balance their economies. It starts, in its first sentence, revealing a bias by focusing on "what cracks the storm [the economic crisis] revealed in the foundations of national economies." I think there is a larger crack that appeared during the financial crisis, … [Read more...] about Economic Balance Can’t Come from Sovereign State Policy Makers
Strategy: What Nokia Needs to Do To Survive
Cover photo by Zaidan Falaah on Pexels.com Stephen Elop's leaked Nokia strategy memo (full text here at the WSJ TechEurope blog) has caused a bit of a stir. At the center of the memo is uncertainty. The message he gives is that people need to embrace uncertainty like the man in his allegorical burning platform, jump into icy waters and be transformed. The emotion of the … [Read more...] about Strategy: What Nokia Needs to Do To Survive
