Strategy Distilled December 2021

by | Dec 23, 2021 | Strategy Distilled Newsletter

Distillations in this newsletter: A look back at 6 months of Strategy Distilled; Masters in Digital Marketing; five free copies of The Strategy Manual to give away.

STRATEGY DISTILLED:

A monthly concoction of insight, learning and things you might have missed for anyone who works on strategy, works with strategy or just loves strategy.

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This month …

  • A look back at 6 months of my Strategy Distilled newsletter.
  • Ever thought about completing a Masters in Digital Marketing?
  • Subscriber offer: Five free hardback copies of The Strategy Manual to give away.

If you enjoy reading this newsletter, don’t forget to forward it to friends or colleagues who might also find it of interest.

Was this forwarded to you? Sign-up

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The best of the past six months of Strategy Distilled

It’s been six months since I started publishing my Strategy Distilled Newsletter so, for those who want to revisit some of the topics, or just want an overview of what I have covered so far, I thought I would take this opportunity to present a summary of some of the content. I have provided links below to the relevant newsletters for each piece of content – you can read them online or listen to them as a podcast. Podcasts of the series are also available on available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Models
Strategy Distilled is the place where I announce the release of models from The Strategy Manual on Creative Commons Licence, making them free for everyone to use in their day-to-day strategy work and presentations. We now have 20 models on the Goal Atlas website, and here is our list of the top 5 most popular models for 2021:

  1. The House of Strategy Model showing how vision, mission, values and strategy come together for an organisation.
  2. The Cascade Model of Strategy which shows that strategy is the inter-connection between a destination, the value of getting there and the handful of core methods by which you get there.
  3. The Futures Cone which helps you learn how to envision the future for your strategy to inform strategic planning.
  4. The Separation Model of Strategy that demonstrates how strategy and strategic planning need to be forced apart so that they can serve their different purposes within your organisation.
  5. The Pyramid Model of Strategy Adaptation which depicts the three on-going activities needed for strategy adaptation (sense-making, decision-making and change-making) as well as the three underlying capabilities needed to make these activities effective (surveillance capability, commitment capability and responsiveness capability).

Strategy Healthcheck
In October I introduced my new online tool, Strategy Healthcheck, that can help you explore how well your strategy is performing across six key areas. The Healthcheck is currently free to use and enables you to get a snapshot of how your strategy is performing in under 20 minutes. (Oct 2021)

Strategy lessons from other organisations
My own strategy work is constantly inspired and informed by the lessons from other organisations. As a consultant I have worked with dozens of companies across all sectors, but there is always something new to learn from others. Here are some of the companies I have commented on in the last 6 months:

Lessons for strategy from behavioural economics
Having originally trained in psychology, I keep abreast of developments in the fields of neuroscience and human behaviour and am intrigued by the lessons that can be applied to strategy. Here are some of the areas I have explored from other fields, including behavioural economics:

Snippets related to strategy you might have missed
As part of my own research for the consultancy work I do, I often come across interesting snippets related to strategy that I want to share. They may be anything from a blog post to a peer-reviewed academic article, or even just an inspirational quotation. Along with some of the strategy lessons from other companies (above) here is a selection of the topics these snippets have covered:

  • Digital avoidance strategy (Jul 2021)
  • What kind of strategist are you? (Aug 2021)
  • Strategy and culture (Sep 2021)
  • Net Promoter Score 3.0 (Oct 2021)
  • The Five Types of People You’ll Meet When Implementing Change (Nov 2021)
  • In praise of Post-it notes (Nov 2021)

You can see all my newsletters on the Goal Atlas Website.

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Masters in Digital Marketing

I am delighted to be teaching again next year on the world’s first Masters-level qualification in Digital Marketing, accredited by Manchester Metropolitan University. This exceptional Masters degree course is an executive-level program for working professionals, delivered entirely online, allowing you to fit learning around your work and personal schedules. Graduates from this program have gone on to hold senior management positions – including director/board level roles – started new business ventures and led speaking and teaching roles.

There are a few places left on the next course starting in January 2022 – find out more.

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Christmas offer

Five free hardback copies of The Strategy Manual to give away!

And finally, as a little thank you for subscribing to Strategy Distilled, I have a free hardback copy of The Strategy Manual to the first five subscribers who contact me – entries to hello@goalatlas.com with the name of the addressee and the full postal address.

I welcome all feedback and suggestions on The Strategy Manual – you can contact me directly at mike@goalatlas.com or leave your ratings and reviews on Amazon.

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Wishing you all a wonderful festive break and a happy and healthy 2022!

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Goal Atlas runs workshops and sprints to help your strategy work better across your organisation. Get in touch if you think we might be able to help.

If you enjoy reading this newsletter, don’t forget to forward it to friends or colleagues who might also find it of interest.

Was this forwarded to you? Sign-up

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