firms.
Who this book is for
I wrote this book for you, if you already are, plan to be, or should be an executive of one of the hundreds of thousands of “small” companies with 20 to 500 employees. These not-yet-Fortune 500 companies are typically transitioning from the entrepreneur’s “back-of-the-envelope” style of management to a professional form of management.
In my experience, small business executives come to the table with different sets of strengths, weaknesses, and experience. The Chemistry of Strategy speaks to executives and future executives, no matter what their path to executive leadership. You and your fellow executives are likely to fit into one of these profiles:
Alpha wolves from finance, sales, production or development are terrific at working in their specialty. They usually haven’t had the need for broader management experience or for worrying about a strategic vision. The Chemistry of Strategy provides an effective way for these managers to broaden their business perspective with an easy-to-grasp model of strategic vision.
Company founders can usually manage quite effectively on the back of an envelope in the early years. The company’s initial strategic focus is acquiring a set of customers, learning how to service them, and surviving long enough to make the next payroll. With growth, the time arrives when the company has sufficient resources and leadership demands to support an executive team. The Chemistry of Strategy provides insights on how to develop and make effective use of what often becomes the organization’s most expensive asset – the executive leadership team.
Former executives of major Fortune 500 companies have experience and understand the value of proven concepts like strategic planning, continuous improvement, and employee development. Unfortunately, the processes they utilized in multi-billion-dollar firms don’t scale successfully to small companies. Such large-company processes usually assume the existence of a large department to implement and sustain planning, with levels of headcount and expertise that either don’t make sense for, or aren’t accessible to, small companies. The Chemistry of Strategy provides tools that managers can use to implement their Fortune 500-gained strategic insights without requiring Fortune 500-scale resources.
Freshly-minted MBAs may have little hands-on experience, but plenty of solid book knowledge, albeit often based on their schools’ favored Fortune 500 case studies. The pragmatic approaches in The Chemistry of Strategy can help such managers apply that academic knowledge into career-building practice.
The next generation that will take the reins of the family business. Often the next generation’s experience is limited to time spent in the family business. The Chemistry of Strategy provides insights from multiple industries and companies and a strategic planning process that has proven to be a useful tool in facilitating that transition to the next generation.
Why this book?
This pragmatic book is a tool to help you:
This book offers you something hard to find in today’s most popular business books: a practical, tested perspective and a strategic process that works for the legions of companies that don’t have the resources of an Apple, General Electric, or Procter & Gamble. You will gain a deep understanding of what strategic management is; why it’s critical to your organization and your own success; and how to create, implement, and sustain a strategy that literally turns vision into reality.
This book uses actual, real company examples to illustrate the various elements of the chemistry of strategy.
Over the course of my career, I’ve experienced myriad challenges and more than my fair share of less-than-optimal decisions. One of my life’s goals is to help as many people as possible to avoid these mistakes. I’ve focused my “lessons” on:
This book uses actual, real company examples to illustrate the various elements of the chemistry of strategy. I have changed the names of colleagues, companies and their employees to honor their request for anonymity. In some cases, the experiences of more than one company have been combined to highlight a concept.
I invite you to explore the chemistry of strategy. Gain a deep understanding of what strategy excellence is; why it’s critical to your organization and your own success; and how to create, implement, and sustain a strategy. Learn how to apply a practical, tested perspective and process that works for companies like yours, and you will be able to turn your own vision into reality.
Chapter 1
The Chemistry of Strategy
“Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
Epictetus
“…one or two atoms can convert a fuel to a poison, change a color, render an inedible substance edible, or replace a pungent odor with a fragrant one. That changing a single atom can have such consequences is the wonder of the chemical world.”
P. W. Atkins
My first strategic planning meeting in 1976 was a defining moment for me and my company. One of the joys of facilitating strategic planning is that I help create such defining moments for others. Sprinkled throughout this book are real company examples from such moments. Here’s an example of the power of visualizing a future.
In the first strategic planning meeting with a new market research client, I asked the CEO a follow-up
