Cecily Commers argues that real purpose is a compass for strategy, not a slogan. Most firms fake it, which turns planning into busywork and leaves them scrambling like headless chickens. Without genuine purpose and foresight, strategy stays shallow and disconnected from what actually matters.
Yeah, I think if they were to really take a look at, you know, are they clear about their purpose? If they're not, and I would find it rather stunning that a lot of organizations are not, they may have slogans they use, but it's actually not a compass. Because purpose should be a compass that you point into these future scenarios in order to know which is your proprietary advantage. So if your purpose isn't clear, I would actually suggest that they start doing that work first. Because that's what we bring into our scenario planning. Purpose and foresight are the strongest tools we have for doing good strategy. As far as I'm concerned, it's not strategy if we're not doing that. It's just kind of a technocratic exercise that we tell ourselves we've done, and then we get back to being busy and the headless chicken syndrome again with expectations that aren't grounded in reality, and it's hard. It just, it's really hard.
Ep 35 Your Strategic Stagnation Isn't a Framework Problem—It's a Story Problem
The YouTube Strategy School: Why Your MBA Didn’t Teach You Strategic Thinking
