Francis WadeFramework Consulting · Consultant who solves tough strategy and productivity problems for corporations | Author | Web-Speaker | Jump Leap Long-Term Strategy Podcast

snip 2/5 How to Tackle the Problem of Conglomerate Strategy

Name: snip 2/5 How to Tackle the Problem of Conglomerate Strategy
Uploaded: 2021-06-03T12:24:23+00:00
Duration: 30 s
Channel: Francis Wade
Description: In this segment, the speaker criticizes senior business unit leaders—managing directors and MDs—for their inability to articulate a genuine…

3 Jun 2021 · 1 min

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In this segment, the speaker criticizes senior business unit leaders—managing directors and MDs—for their inability to articulate a genuine organizational strategy. He observes that when asked for a strategy, they resort to lengthy PowerPoint decks that merely list tactics, revealing a lack of true strategic direction. The speaker highlights that the pandemic has introduced profound, game‑changing disruptions that require leaders to actively engineer a "next normal." He argues that most leaders are ill‑equipped to perform this strategic engineering, leaving their organizations vulnerable in a rapidly changing environment.

However, I have sat in group meetings in which business unit MDs, managing directors, flounder when asked for their organization's strategy. After a bunch of PowerPoint slides, it becomes clear they have no real strategy. At most, they have a list of tactics. Furthermore, in these pandemic times, most are facing game-changing disruptions. This requires them to engineer the next normal. More often than not, they simply aren't equipped to get the job done.