Strategic Implementation
The first challenge is not to develop grand strategies, nor new strategies, but the issue of strategic implementation. It is noted that most strategic plans are either not implemented or poorly implemented. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to explain how to translate a strategy into action and make the levers of implementation tangible. Moreover, managers are often overwhelmed by urgency and tactical problems, lacking the time and energy to address strategic issues, let alone their implementation. Perhaps the current health crisis has allowed managers to think more long-term, beyond the results of the next quarter, and thus give more space to strategy development and its operational declinations.
The Quest for Meaning
The second challenge lies in the quest for meaning. One thing is certain in the current landscape, managers are doing everything they can to increase control and improve the offering: more innovative products, more services, more control, more features for the user, etc. However, no one cares about the following duality: do customers need something better? Or simply something with more meaning? In the future, I deeply believe that managers’ issues will not be about innovating by adding new features to already complex products and services, but rather about giving more meaning to customers.
The Right to Fail: A Necessity
The third challenge is the right – the necessity – to fail. Currently, managers have more and more control over their environments and want to control everything. Except that to innovate, one must know how to fail. Some even say that failure is a prerequisite for success. It is not about knowing how to fail once, but knowing how to face a succession of failures before succeeding. Of ten innovative projects requiring a budget of $100,000, six projects will yield less than the initial investment – causing the company to lose money. Also, to multiply the initial investment by 50 and more, the order of magnitude is 1 project out of 250. These figures help to understand that one must know how to fail. Failure allows reflection, learning, and growth. Success certainly brings short-term gain, but paralyses companies with a certain organisational inertia, a form of assurance, even arrogance. A company that succeeds for several years in a row will not be inclined to change a winning recipe. The more a company succeeds, the more it will continue on its trajectory, and the greater the risk of a sudden failure. I therefore urge all managers to not only replicate recipes that work but also to experiment with new ones, knowing that most of them will be unsuccessful.
The Strategic Analysis Method for Meeting the Challenges of 2024
To prepare today’s and tomorrow’s managers for these challenges, I have developed a strategic analysis methodology, encompassing both the external and internal environment, strategic choices through elaborate decision grids, and strategic implementation, allowing the translation of corporate strategy and profit centre strategy into concrete actions. My greatest pride could be, of course, the success of managers who then achieved tremendous success. But my greatest pride is having changed the trajectory of some managers who had a clear path. And I am proud that today they express their differences by choosing to think strategically, give more meaning, and learn from their mistakes to better succeed.
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