Food For Thought: Strategic Pointers

Quick Pointers from the Compass Desk

• The collection of quality intelligence sometimes determines the state of the assessment.
• The assessment of certain situations determines the criteria of the goals.
• The goals and the approaches dictate the processes.
• The processes govern the resources.
• The performance of the implementers usually concludes the success of the goals. 

It begins by knowing the Big Tangible Picture. Then, pinpointing which of the nine strategic situations are in play, is the next step. 

With a tangible plan (or a Tangible Vision), one knows when to stay on course and when to adjust while executing the strategy. 

By following the mentioned pointers, one could succeed at some point of time.

* In a future post, we will touch on the tactical specifics behind those strategic pointers.

Pragmatic Practice: Leave the Desk

All successful strategists usually leave their desk and practice their trade in the field. 

Reflections from the Compass Desk

"Here is my 0.00000008 million dollars worth of wisdom, strategy is as much about organization and communication as it is about planning and implementation. ... The size of the goal sometimes determines the intensity of the risk. In most cases, the quantity of quality assessing and planning increases. ..." - Anonymous

" ... Regardless of what the pseudo experts say, simple solutions do not always work with complex problems. If they believed that their view of simple solution works, the you should ask them to cure cancer and their stupidity. ..."

It is all about assessing the Big Tangible Picture before one can come to a conclusive solution.

Comments from the Compass Desk

When this endeavor of building a strategic assessment process began, we encountered many unique ideas. Many of these ideas originated from the different translations of the Art of War, the various commentaries and the numerous essays on strategy and tactics, board games and strategy books on western sports.

During the research and development stage, we also talked to some real hardcore strategic thinkers and many pseudo strategic evangelists (especially the members of the AoW's cult).

While the hardcore strategists had a specific-driven process to operate from, most of the amateurs had a tendency of operating from a page of quotes and a few checklists. I think that one of these amateurs carries a Bible for good luck. Another one carries a deck of cards.

The Compass Process
Our strategic process focuses on understanding the configuration of a competitor's strategic power from the interiors of their organization. It also centers on the importance of identifying the qualities of the risk and the uncertainty that could be in play.

We also believed that pure planning does not always enables one to find the path of least resistance. There are the exceptions.

Do you know the exceptions?

Before competing against a competitor with vast resources and strong strategic positioning, one must have the capability to assess their competitor in terms of specifics.


Other Features of the Process

Our process has a module that enables the implementers to "wargame" the situation. The conceptual framework of our "wargame" module is based on the concepts of the various strategic classics and modern brainstorming processes.

One of its key objectives is to determine the possibility of the "unorthodox."

In summary, our process is designed for serious competitive situations.

Side Note
Our book is nearly completed. Our current set of priorities and the state of the information economy have propelled us to postponed our decision to publish it. If you are interested in talking to us about our strategic and tactical ideas, contact us at this link.