Fast Company
BY FC Expert Blogger Kaihan Krippendorff |
| Image via Wikipedia |
Wed Jan 18, 2012
This blog is written by a member of our expert blogging community and expresses that expert's views alone.
[Image: Flickr user Tim Green aka atoach]
I just returned from a long weekend skiing with the kids and some friends. … Saturday morning, stepping into our cars on our way to the slopes, I reminded one friend of the house’s garage door code: “Twelve thirty-four.”
He looked at me oddly, paused, and said, “You mean 1-2-3-4?”
It hit me then. I had been trying to remember “twelve thirty-four,” not realizing that the code was as simple as “1-2-3-4.”
At the choice between these two ways of remembering lies the key to great strategists. …
You see, the strategic choices we make every day are determined by the “strategic narratives” we tell ourselves. …
The challenge you face today may remind you of a problem you faced in the past, and if what you did in the past worked, you will simply want to try the same strategy again.
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| Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr |
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| Image via Wikipedia |
She looks at the board, and while I am thinking in terms of “things”--pawns and knights--she is thinking in terms of “sequences.” She sees the board and actually recognizes the game--she has played this game before, and so she knows the winning move.
In other words, I try to juggle multiple things in my head--“twelve” and “thirty-four”--while she just recognizes one story--“1-2-3-4”--and so is able to see with ease that the next move is “5.”
Your ability to see new strategic options is a function of the number and variety of stories you recognize. …
What strategic narratives are you going to tell yourself today to see new options that will surprise your competition and lead you to breakthrough solutions?
This week I am working on closing three major agreements for my business. I ran the free “Strategem Selector” on my website (kaihan.net), went through the strategic narratives it recommends, and here are the three that I will be thinking about. Try these on for yourself as well. …
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What “brick” can you give away? The story goes like this: You give up something of relatively little value to you and exchange it with your partner/customer for loyalty. This is like HP selling printers for low profit in order to make money selling ink cartridges.
Image via CrunchBase - Who else benefits if you win? The story goes like this: You face a tough situation but you find an unexpected ally who benefits by you winning. You partner with that person and they help you succeed. …
- To where can you move the action? The story goes like this: You are in one business but competition enters, so you create a new related business and move your profits into this new business. …
Want more?
- 8 Strategies To Fight Ordinary
- Learning To Thrive While Your Competitors Flounder
- 4 Steps To Flustering Your Competition
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