Three decades ago, Peter Drucker outlined a series of thoughts about strategy in his book Managing in Turbulent Times.  The principles he advanced are quite applicable today, with some interesting reflections on the circa 1980 era of uncertainty:

• The need for adaptive strategies for dynamic settings.
• The relevance of technical, social and economic forces.
• The structural realities of socio-economic progress.

In strategy leadership and governance, circa 2009, we have what seems to be a perfect storm of uncertainty.  The storm links a torrent of economic, social, political, market and technical factors into the practice of business planning and decision making.  Given this context, what should executives, program managers, board members and partners consider as they direct, integrate and execute their strategic agenda?  The standard answers to this question include a duet of contemporary management themes.  The first theme focuses on framing foresight, insight and adaptive capacity.  This is a matter of getting ready for change… and being flexible as it occurs.   The second theme relates to increasing the resolve to develop capacity that will be needed to absorb the challenges that arise. 

We address these themes in Prepared and Resolved, 2007.  And, Donald Sull defines these concerns through his forthcoming book, The Upside of Turbulence.  The common themes are readiness and resolve, the capacity to evolve.

And the simple truths remain - the turbulent times we are facing are part of an always-unfolding set of realities, a context of VUCA, or volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.  Better companies will survive, prosper and sustain in a turbulent world, with the readiness and resolve to press-on regardless.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 10:27 am and is filed under General, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.