Intention

"The tricky part is making the leap from seeing to behaving"
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Aqui, Liedtka reforça uma perspectiva normalmente esquecida.
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"Strategic thinking has to involve linking the future image of the organization with the personal choices I make, in my role within the larger system. It also means caring about whether that image materializes, and channeling my efforts accordingly.
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In the strategy field, we have devoted an enormous amount of time to talkking about the "three levels" of stategy: corporate, business, and function. But we've ignored the most important level of all: the personal. Levels one, two, and three, we are told, ask the important questions: "What businesses are we in?" "How do we compete within each business?" and "What does that mean for each functional area?" Level four, I would argue, asks the ultimate question: "What does this mean for me - what is my role in making that other stuff happen?"
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"When that question is answered with clarity and consistency, the image starts to mean more than the laminated plastic aphorism in my wallet or on my office wall. Back that up with structures, information, and reward systems that support it, and meaningful change becomes a real possibility."
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E agora o toque final:
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"I also need to care about the goal. The idea that strategic thinking might have an emotional overtone is shocking, indeed, but remember that we're using the orangutan's test. Caring invokes a new question beyond "What are we doing?" to "Why are we doing it?" When we add caring to seeing, we add intention to image, and we add purpose to plans.
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"Strategic thinking involves translating a high-altitude image into a more personal purpose and investing energy into making the day-to-day choices that supported that purpose."

Image

Voltando ao artigo de Jeanne Liedtka e relacionando-o com o trecho de ontem de Stephen Denning acerca de começar pelo fim, acerca de começar por visualizar o futuro desejado primeiro, antes de começar a equacionar quais as actividades a desenvolver.
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"Strategic thinkers hold in mind an image, a mental representation of something not currently present.
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To think about strategy well, that image must contain a rich understanding of the larger context in which the organization operates today, along with the dynamics of that context.
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Equally essential to strategic thinking is the understanding of the internal system, and the interdependencies it contains. Experience shows that optimizing individual parts of a larger system does not usually optimize the system as a whole. Success in the world of the future requires an ability to continuously redesign what we do. That rests on the ability to visualize the larger system of which we are a part.
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Real breakthroughs in quality and efficiency happen when everybody in the system sees the big picture and works toward the best results at that level, even if it means downplaying their role. But visualizing today's system is not enough. We also need a vivid image of the future system we want to create.
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We know that our ability to change depends heavily on the clarity of the future image we are working toward the mental representation of what doesn´t exist today. The gap between today's reality and tomorrow's vision drives strategic intent, we've been told."

"Everything I need to know about strategy I learned at the National Zoo"

""Can Animals Think?"

The scientists, I learned, used only three criteria to determine the existence of thinking in this simian world: (1) the evidence of ability to create and hold in mind an image, a mental representation of something not present (Moi ici: por exemplo, uma representação do futuro desejado onde queremos chegar); (2) the evidence of intention, having a goal or purpose and a plan to achieve that purpose in a certain way (Moi ici: não será pedir muito? Ter objectivos a sério e um plano para os cumprir!!!); and (3) the evidence of flexibility, the ability to discover multiple ways to reach a goal when the initial plan failed to work (Moi ici: once again, não será pedir muito? Isto obriga a monitorização, análise e decisão!!!). Image, intention, flexibility. How many of the managers and MBAs I work with, I wondered, could pass the orangutan test?"

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É desta forma deliciosa que Jeanne Liedtka começa o artigo "Everything I need to know about strategy I learned at the National Zoo"