strategy camp

Copyright © 2013. Strategic Thinking Institute. All rights reserved. Strategy Camp As a young boy, all my friends went to a beautiful wooded summer camp where they swam, shot arrows and frolicked. Being highly allergic to frolic, I was sent to strategy camp instead. One night around a bonfire roasting spinach and tofu on sticks, the strategist-in-training camp counselor wearing a tan short-sleeved dress shirt, plaid shorts, black socks and Cordovan wingtips told us this horror story: "Years ago, two managers were hiking in these very same woods when they became lost. Night settled in and they wandered aimlessly from one project to the next, with no awareness of what was the key driver of their business strategy's success. Suddenly, they heard a strange noise coming from the forest around them. It was the sound of customer's voices, but they paid no attention because they didn't want to go through the hassle of updating their plan. Gripped with the fear of having no strategic direction, the two managers frantically leafed through their sixty-five slide PowerPoint deck in search of a way out. But, in the pages of eight-point Arial font and clip art, there was no mention of the core competencies and capabilities that could have saved their strategy from impending doom. Their screams were eventually drowned out as they were buried alive by the laundry lists of strategic objectives, critical success factors and tactics that looked good on paper but had no real effect on their long-term success." Needless to say, after that terrifying tale I couldn't do a good SWOT Analysis for a week. However, it did drill into me the importance of understanding just what drives our strategies. We often spend so much time working through a market analysis, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and metrics that we lose sight of exactly what will make or break our strategy. A ten- year study of 103 companies with at least $1 billion in enterprise value showed that strategic blunders were the cause of the greatest loss of shareholder value, an astonishing 81 percent of the time. As strategy is "how" we're going to achieve goals and objectives, core competencies and capabilities are what will drive our ability to successfully fulfill strategy's potential. Let's take a closer look at these two critical concepts. Core Competencies A core competency is a primary area of expertise. It is your collective learnings built on knowledge and skills that lead to differentiated value for your customers and competitive advantage for you. One of the reasons companies lack competitive advantage is because they don't have a c ore competency. If a core competency hasn't been identified and developed, the resulting

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7/28/2019 Strategy Camp

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Strategy Camp

As a young boy, all my friends went to abeautiful wooded summer camp where theyswam, shot arrows and frolicked. Beinghighly allergic to frolic, I was sent to strategycamp instead. One night around a bonfireroasting spinach and tofu on sticks, the

strategist-in-training camp counselorwearing a tan short-sleeved dress shirt, plaidshorts, black socks and Cordovan wingtipstold us this horror story:

"Years ago, two managers were hiking inthese very same woods when they becamelost. Night settled in and they wanderedaimlessly from one project to the next, withno awareness of what was the key driver of

their business strategy's success. Suddenly,they heard a strange noise coming from theforest around them. It was the sound ofcustomer's voices, but they paid no attentionbecause they didn't want to go through thehassle of updating their plan.

Gripped with the fear of having no strategicdirection, the two managers franticallyleafed through their sixty-five slidePowerPoint deck in search of a way out. But,

in the pages of eight-point Arial font and clipart, there was no mention of the corecompetencies and capabilities that couldhave saved their strategy from impendingdoom. Their screams were eventuallydrowned out as they were buried alive bythe laundry lists of strategic objectives,critical success factors and tactics that looked

good on paper but had no real effect on theirlong-term success."

Needless to say, after that terrifying tale Icouldn't do a good SWOT Analysis for aweek. However, it did drill into me the

importance of understanding just whatdrives our strategies. We often spend somuch time working through a marketanalysis, goals, objectives, strategies, tacticsand metrics that we lose sight of exactlywhat will make or break our strategy. A ten-year study of 103 companies with at least$1 billion in enterprise value showed thatstrategic blunders were the cause of thegreatest loss of shareholder value, an

astonishing 81 percent of the time.

As strategy is "how" we're going to achievegoals and objectives, core competencies andcapabilities are what will drive our ability tosuccessfully fulfill strategy's potential. Let'stake a closer look at these two criticalconcepts.

Core CompetenciesA core competency is a primary area of

expertise. It is your collective learnings builton knowledge and skills that lead todifferentiated value for your customers andcompetitive advantage for you. One of thereasons companies lack competitiveadvantage is because they don't have a corecompetency. If a core competency hasn'tbeen identified and developed, the resulting