Strategy is precisely the wrong problem for human brains and the right problem for playing games.

Getting an outside view into your strategy room leads to better outcomes and prevents delusional wishful thinking.

Could your leadership team profit from a strategy room intervention?

Quite possibly. Why? Because, as McKinsey & Company states in the book Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick “strategy is precisely the wrong problem for human brains and the right problem for playing games, especially when the inside company view goes unchecked”. Egos, fear, rivalries, biases, not wanting to disagree, not wanting to propose new ideas that may get shot down, all lead to being risk averse. As Peter Drucker wrote, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”.

The McKinsey research shows that when the social side of the strategy process kicks in, conversations turn into some form of a beauty pageant. Every C-Suite leader wants to look good to the CEO. Careers, bonuses and future promotions are all on the line in the strategy room. A successful meeting is deemed to be one with little friction and maximum good feelings. The end result is that no one wants to take the chance and present a more realistic plan that might actually work. Proposed business growth strategies end up being mostly optimistic wishful thinking that seldom turn into reality.

From the book Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick: “strategy is precisely the wrong problem for human brains and the right problem for playing games, especially when the inside company view goes unchecked”.

many leadership teams suffer from delusional optimism and continue to do what they've mostly always done but expecting different results. This is called insanity. Bringing an outside view into your strategy room can help to refocus and reboot stale thinking and dead end sales and marketing efforts.

Unchallenged inside views lead to delusional optimism in the C-Suite.

The latest research shows that unless leadership teams make big bold moves against their competitors they have little chance of moving up the power curve in their industry and achieving any level of hockey stick growth. Yet, many leadership teams suffer from delusional optimism and continue to do what they’ve mostly always done but expecting different results. This is called insanity.

Bringing an outside view into your strategy room can help to refocus and reboot stale thinking and dead end sales and marketing efforts. At LeaderFinders, CEOs and CMOs tell us they benefit greatly from our dynamic strategy perspective that comes with a jolt of reality–what we like to call a strategy intervention. If your leadership team needs to get sober please contact Tim Finley at [email protected].

Hiring dynamic sales and marketing leadership is vital for greater business growth

Outside views help to facilitate a more realistic evaluation of where a company stands in relation to its competitors.

Many companies are stuck. Research shows better business outcomes are achieved when outside views are welcomed into the strategy room. LeaderFinders works alongside your C-Suite to provide new business growth strategies that result in better sales and marketing outcomes.