"The secret of success is constancy of purpose." (Benjamin Disraeli)
I once saw a Dilbert cartoon that showed Dilbert’s misguided boss seeking advice on corporate strategy from Dogbert, who was smugly sitting behind his large desk that merely said “Consultant” on it. Dogbert declared, “It’s easy to create a strategy. Write down everything you do preceded by the words, ‘Increase our market share by…’” To this advice the boss responded, “What if we change what we do?” Dogbert replied, “Call me and I’ll sell you some more valuable advice.”
As silly as it sounds, many businesses take an approach similar to Dogbert’s when creating their corporate strategy. That is, many business leaders don’t know how to create a solid, long-term strategy. Or worse, they don’t see the need to create one at all. As a result, they look at what they perceive are their current strengths and basically say, “Let’s build a more successful business by doing more of what we are already doing.” Usually this involves little more than staying in their comfort zone by doing the things with which they are already familiar and viewing the rest as unimportant.
In some cases this approach actually works for a while. However, when it does work it is usually due to pure dumb luck rather than some predetermined plan. There’s a lot to be said for being in the right place at the right time with the right product. Unfortunately, even those companies fortunate enough to succeed in this manner generally only succeed until some competitor comes along with a well-conceived strategy that quickly puts the lucky company out of business. Even those companies who have experienced great success in this manner will usually have difficulty maintaining that success when the competition gets tough. And it doesn’t seem to matter whether a company is a startup with a clean slate of brand new ideas or a large, experienced company that has been in business for years. Microsoft, for example, is perhaps the king of building solid strategies that have put even their most formidable competitors out of business.
This chapter will help you to think outside the box concerning your business. It will help you to view your business in new ways and assist you in creating a more successful, long-term strategy.