Strategic focus is a key part of business strategy, start-ups or established firm alike. Sometimes it is about corporate renewal and sometime it is about doing the same thing but differently. Especially in technology firms, how often you see their original strategies failed and they quickly repackaged themselves. So common in technology. In the spirit of breathing new life into old gadgets, as well as creating the nerdiest breakfast tool ever, designer Chris Dimino managed to make a typewriter into a waffle maker. The Corona-Matic Waffle maker (which is only a prototype) not only produces an extremely large, rectangular, and potentially delicious waffle. Since it's made from an old Corona typewriter, it imprints a keyboard shape into your breakfast food. What a great idea!
The challenge for many CEOs is balancing commitment and flexibility. Placing bets is never easy. Sometime people won by placing the wrong bet too. Sometime it is won by placing big bets. Sometimes it takes many small bets. Commitment is a two-sided sword. Sometime you ended in the chasm. This is where the art of strategy can help. As we look at today’s competitive landscape and try to make the best decision based on alternatives. And this is all driving toward action today and planning for action as things in the landscape are changing. That comes strategic foresights. It is an approach to support strategic decisions making. Organizations need to be fast and flexible to compete successfully against smaller, more agile competitors and disruptive start-ups.
Strategic Foresight (or Strategic Futuring as we call it) encompasses a set of methods, processes, tools and frameworks that enable large companies to identify, assess, and act upon opportunities and threats, that have been identified as weak signals in the periphery. The objective is to enhance their innovation reactivity, manage disruptions, and enhance strategic decision-making. It is based on four components 1/ trends analysis, 2/weak signals scanning, 3/ anthropology immersion, and 4/ scenario development in order to drive innovation, manage disruptions and support strategic decision making. It is about preparing for the future. These inputs can help develop a rich set of stories about the future to allow organizations creatively enlarged their lists of options and to preserve flexibility.
The best CEOs always have an uncanny ability to predict the future. They may have unusual insights into their particular customer segments or markets, and luck may play a part as well. More so, they are prepared to create their own luck by cultivating an ability to see opportunities for their company and to make the deals that convert those opportunities into realities. For them, the future is co-created. Some things that may seem like amazing foresight are actually the result of the hard work and discipline it takes to scan for weak signals and develop longer term scenarios.
