In her blog, Ann Oliveri pointed me to a recent article in The McKinsey Quarterly that I think is a good read.
The article focuses on the business opportunities in times of crisis.
“There is nothing like a crisis to clarify the mind. In suddenly volatile and different times, you must have a strategy. I don’t mean most of the things people call strategy—mission statements, audacious goals, three- to five-year budget plans. I mean a real strategy. . . By strategy, I mean a cohesive response to a challenge. A real strategy is neither a document nor a forecast but rather an overall approach based on a diagnosis of a challenge. The most important element of a strategy is a coherent viewpoint about the forces at work, not a plan.”
The article goes onto outline what the strategic focus should be during a crisis.
“So during structural breaks in hard times, cutting costs isn’t enough. Things have to be done differently, and on two levels: reducing the complexity of corporate structures and transforming business models. At the corporate level, the first commandment is to simplify and simplify again . . . Then start reforming individual businesses . . . In general terms, the first task is to understand how a business has survived, competed, and made money in the past.”[1]
So often we tend to overcomplicate the world. In many cases there are simple solutions to some of our problems. And those solutions are often buried in our core reason for being. We forget what brought us to the point of success.
Sometime we just need to take a swing and hit the ball.
The article focuses on the business opportunities in times of crisis.
“There is nothing like a crisis to clarify the mind. In suddenly volatile and different times, you must have a strategy. I don’t mean most of the things people call strategy—mission statements, audacious goals, three- to five-year budget plans. I mean a real strategy. . . By strategy, I mean a cohesive response to a challenge. A real strategy is neither a document nor a forecast but rather an overall approach based on a diagnosis of a challenge. The most important element of a strategy is a coherent viewpoint about the forces at work, not a plan.”
The article goes onto outline what the strategic focus should be during a crisis.
“So during structural breaks in hard times, cutting costs isn’t enough. Things have to be done differently, and on two levels: reducing the complexity of corporate structures and transforming business models. At the corporate level, the first commandment is to simplify and simplify again . . . Then start reforming individual businesses . . . In general terms, the first task is to understand how a business has survived, competed, and made money in the past.”[1]
So often we tend to overcomplicate the world. In many cases there are simple solutions to some of our problems. And those solutions are often buried in our core reason for being. We forget what brought us to the point of success.
Sometime we just need to take a swing and hit the ball.
[1] DECEMBER 2008, Richard P. Rumelt, Strategy in a ‘structural break’, The Mckinsey Quarterly
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