The Strategy Spectrum

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Recently, asked to explain strategy in the spectrum of life and decision making, the best I could think of was to visualise two different stories.

The Elevated View

Imagine you are on a busy street in a large city, caught up on the ground in a traffic snarl. Suddenly, like Icarus and Daedalus, one gets wings. You start rising and spiralling upwards. Soon you are at a bird flight level and can see many roads and most of the city. You realise that the traffic snarl was just for a short juncture and by making a small turn you can go free. The street level is fire-fighting operations and the birds eye view is a tactical level.

Next you keep rising and are at an atmosphere level viewing much of the country. The expanded view is much wider and larger, and yet has fewer details. That is alright, because you realise that the city is not the only place; much beauty and comfort exists in rural areas and other cities. One can move to other places and do other things. We are able to strategise and make larger and more long reaching decisions. That is the strategy level. 

Now, unlike Icarus, you fly higher and nearer the Sun, but do not lose your wings. Up in space you can see the whole world. It’s the most amazing view and is actually a Vision. Once up there, you can do just about everything by simply viewing the world, thinking larger than life and delegating the related strategy to others. This Visionary element is granted to few and far between in a single life.  This is a scale above strategy, but while strategy can more or less be a constant in life, a Vision will come rarely.

On the Ground View

A bunch of people are on a bus, which has broken down in a forested and hilly region. You have been charged to get the others out of there to safety. People are scared and most do not want to leave the safety of the bus. What to do?

First you go outside and climb the top of the bus and look around. Visible on an elevated ground is a lighthouse tower, which is considered to be safety for all. This becomes your Vision. We have to achieve it any which way.

Also visible is a set of open areas along the way to the lighthouse, which can be joined together like dots, to form a rough road to the lighthouse. To form the road to the lighthouse is strategy. 

We then organise a few who are willing to get down and push the bus. The others who are scared stay inside the bus. Our workforce pushes the bus and also clears up hurdles and forms a path. You appoint a manager to coordinate and guide them from the bus top.  So the guys who are doing the ground work are foot soldiers doing the fire fighting and operations. The manager on the top, is aware of wider surroundings and plans the activity from clearing to clearing. So he is doing the guidance and tactical work, ensuring that he keeps the bus moving along.

Lastly, you are also on the bus top, but do not have to worry about the managerial work, as that is someone else’s responsibility. No, you are keeping in sight the various clearings which make the broad  road to the lighthouse. We want to ensure that the strategy of getting to the lighthouse remains intact. Every now and then you get feedback from the manager on progress and difficulties. Using that feedback, you keep adjusting the route a bit, hence ensuring the overall strategy.

This feedback loop is a normal part of reality being shaped into the strategy. Never at any time will the Vision (of safety at the lighthouse) change. True, that once we get to the safety of the lighthouse, then we will review the ‘situation’ to cast a new Vision, but that is after we have achieved our present Vision.

If any are wondering, what a lighthouse is doing on a hilltop, I do not have a credible answer. But it seemed like a nice Vision.