The Strategist Snake Oil

Written by Alora

Topics: Leadership, Lessons & Epiphanies, Project Management

Strategy is sexy. Operations is not.

This is often a problem in the modern business world: everyone wants to be a strategist. Aside from being seen as the best place to get to experiment with the new, fun stuff, it’s also usually seen as the side of the business with all the perks — travel, schmoozing, client dinners, etc.

In reality — whether it’s true or not — being a strategist is seen as where you want to be if you want to make more money, work less and have more fun. I know plenty of strategists who would disagree with that, but whether it’s true or not, over the years, that’s what has evolved as the image that goes along with the role — especially when it comes to the web.

And now, thanks to the social media celebrity status of strategists like Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Charlene Li, Jeremiah Owyang, etc. it’s easy to see the addition of a minor ‘fame’ element fueling the flame of appeal that goes with the “strategist” label.

One of the most unfortunate side effects of this is that the ranks of “strategists” are often filled with snake oil salesmen who make a bigger mess than they solve, and frequently leave an organization scrambling for solutions to problems they don’t understand how to fix.

The main issue I routinely see is neglecting tactical, revenue-generating, business execution in favor of high-minded strategic vision — and, I suppose, as someone who’s made a bit of a career cleaning up after this type of mess, I suppose I shouldn’t complain about it.

But there are five critical, tactical considerations that routinely haunt organizations that find themselves in this trap:

Teams Are Not Actively Managed
Debates Occur, Decisions Do Not
Projects Are Not Being Delivered
Expectations Are Not Being Managed
“Strategists” Are Seen as Frustrating Obstacles to Results

Over the next several days, I’ll be posting these details, how to spot them and then how to fix them, in order to keep the strategy sirens from luring hapless business sailors onto the rocks of doom.

Send to Facebook