A fantastic (and inspirational) read. Thanks, Tom. I'm building a media brand targeting digital entrepreneurs, and this (almost entirely) reframed my thinking around strategy. It'll be extremely helpful for building the brand AND communicating lessons to my audience.
Excellent stuff. To misquote George Box: “All strategies are wrong, some are useful”. I have been having conversations about the “air gap” between abstract vision and value statements on one hand and actual operational activities on the other - which is similar to your “vision chasm”.
"it means abandoning the resourcing s***-fight that is most budgeting exercises. A departmental head overbids for the resources they need and waits for Finance to beat them back down. Instead a saner approach (that will therefore likely never happen) is to cost out what the agreed strategy requires for execution."
I think you've put your finger on it: the "saner" approach will never happen. Partly because budgeting is not about organisational success, but executive success! This means we need to find a way to approach strategy that doesn't rely on people abandoning things they really really want to do. :D
Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating circulation.
A fantastic (and inspirational) read. Thanks, Tom. I'm building a media brand targeting digital entrepreneurs, and this (almost entirely) reframed my thinking around strategy. It'll be extremely helpful for building the brand AND communicating lessons to my audience.
Thanks Simon, that's inspiring to hear! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Excellent stuff. To misquote George Box: “All strategies are wrong, some are useful”. I have been having conversations about the “air gap” between abstract vision and value statements on one hand and actual operational activities on the other - which is similar to your “vision chasm”.
https://tempo.substack.com/p/dont-tell-me-your-strategy-budgeting
"it means abandoning the resourcing s***-fight that is most budgeting exercises. A departmental head overbids for the resources they need and waits for Finance to beat them back down. Instead a saner approach (that will therefore likely never happen) is to cost out what the agreed strategy requires for execution."
I think you've put your finger on it: the "saner" approach will never happen. Partly because budgeting is not about organisational success, but executive success! This means we need to find a way to approach strategy that doesn't rely on people abandoning things they really really want to do. :D
Great piece, Tom. Should we call you Ishmael?
😉
Absolutely!
Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating circulation.