and come along with you. But that would damage my legacy. I could reconsider my public stand on the war and the way Athens is governed, but that would also damage my legacy. I can stand trial and stick to my principles, in which event I’ve already laid out the future possibilities.
FOX: So now we come to your question: “Which option are you going to exercise and turn into action?” Personally I’ve decided to head north and take my chances there.
SOCRATES: This dialogue has been delightful because it has clarified my mind. Of course, I will exercise the last option and take my chances in court.
FOX: Well, dear friend, best of luck. It is time to part.
SOCRATES: Not before the final and tenth question. Remember, at the very beginning you thought that I was going to ask about the meaning of existence. Now we have discussed the past, the present and the future, we must return to this issue with the extra knowledge we have gained. “What for you is the meaning of life?”
FOX: I suppose it has to do with the reproduction of my species. That is my legacy. I have to protect my wife and children so that someday in some far distant country my several times great-grandchildren will carry on the foxy tradition.
SOCRATES: Yes, that is the meaning of life for me too. But I also want my idea of enquiry to persist in the minds of future generations.
FOX: In all probability, that will happen if you suffer the worst of all possible fates. Premature death will ensure eternal life for your idea.
SOCRATES: Your final remark, my dear friend, is – whether you intended it or not – a Socratic outcome. You are a ‘seer’ in the true meaning of the word. Not only do you see things more quickly than other animals because of your peripheral vision, you see things differently – stripped of the assumptions and ‘laws’ we all like to lay down. You see things as they really are and, by doing just that, you see into the future. My life’s work has been trying to give people a fraction of your talent by asking questions that reveal the truth behind the mask of appearances. Goodbye and good luck.
With that they parted company, never to meet again, but never to forget the wisdom and experience they had shared with one another. Both had given and taken something away from the encounter. Both their destiny lines had intertwined and changed.
3 The Conversation Model: Our Version of the Socratic Method
In every one of us there are two ruling and directing principles, whose guidance we follow wherever they may lead; the one being an innate desire of pleasure; the other, an acquired judgment which aspires after excellence.
SOCRATES, as quoted in Plato’s Phaedrus
Little did the fox know when he responded to Socrates’ question about the meaning of life that his wish to have several times great-grandchildren would be so spectacularly granted. For not only are there rural foxes in forests like his (but sadly even more encroached upon by man), his species are roaming around the streets of London, having adapted to living in an urban environment as well.
But the fox would have been even more amazed if he had been fast-forwarded to our den and met a pair of foxy, game-playing strategists who, in a small way, are the spiritual descendents of Socrates. We think that he would have totally approved of the methodology that we have designed to assist companies to have an effective strategic conversation about their future. It has a lot in common with the once-in-a-lifetime conversation he had with Socrates in the sunny grove. He might have viewed it as a coincidence. But then he might have reflected that he did leave something behind in the chance encounter – something passed down through the generations.
The Evolution of the Model
From our side, we could have said to the fox that our methodology is unique and independently crafted. It has come about through rigorous application, re-evaluation and fine-tuning in the course of facilitating countless sessions in plenty of boardrooms. We’ve paid our dues. The claim is partially true, and we would like to thank all the CEOs and their teams who have voluntarily subjected themselves to our version of the Socratic method. However, we would have had to acknowledge to our furry friend that the seeds of our first book, The Mind of a Fox – Scenario Planning in Action, published in June 2001, lay in the foxy dialogue that took place 2 400 years previously. The matrix we introduced in the book was based on two key questions about the future which asked what is certain and uncertain about it, and what you control and don’t control in it. These two questions, as you will remember, were posed in the conversation in the woods. Nevertheless, we do go further by suggesting that you will not get a proper idea of what you do control unless you start by delineating what you don’t control. In other words, we really do believe in applying the type of hypothesis elimination, much loved by Socrates, to the formulation of strategy.
We have found that these two questions open up a whole new way of strategic thinking. Most people operate in a constrained frame of mind, boxed in by certainty and control. This is quite understandable, because it creates a level of constancy and sureness within which most people feel comfortable. When push becomes shove, we don’t like change. Extrapolate that into the business environment and it will explain why many companies’ strategic vision involves doing the same thing but better; or, to put it bluntly, staying in the same rut. It may explain why every company we work with finish off their strategic conversation enthusing about the depth and clarity of the insight they have gained. It’s almost as if Socrates himself had had a hand in guiding the discourse away from the rut to higher ground. As the father of Western philosophy, he was a champion of venturing beyond the constraints of conventional wisdom. Perhaps he would have made an ideal nonexecutive director in today’s boardroom.
We have been fortunate to work with a diverse portfolio of companies throughout the world, operating in fields such as banking, pharmaceuticals, mining, financial services and asset management, legal services, the media, retail, manufacturing and agriculture – from giant multinationals to family-run businesses. We’ve done stimulating sessions as well with municipalities, schools, universities, churches and ngos. One of us has even conducted an ‘informal conversation’ at the Central Party School in Beijing. In each case, we noted any observations made by participants on how we could improve our methodology and adapted it accordingly. The result was a model for strategic conversation that was the subject of our second book: Games Foxes Play – Planning for Extraordinary Times, published in April 2005. Again a vein of Socratic dialogue ran through the book in that a methodology of questioning and self-examination was presented to help companies arrive at a more lucid understanding of their strategic choices. This was all done in the context of business being a game.
That vein of self-interrogation is now at the heart of this book. The strategic conversation model has again been evolved into a series of specific questions and sub-questions in order to effect a higher level, and more robust form, of strategic thinking, with due allowance for the complexity of the system that any organisation finds itself in. The secret lies in the nature of the dialogue that is encouraged, and how this is done. Socratic dialogue allows for in-depth understanding of issues through a combination of rigorous enquiry and developing consensus. Preferably performed in small groups, it enhances individual self-confidence while at the same time encouraging the common search for truth in a question-and-answer pattern. The dialogue allows participants to reflect and think independently and critically; but at the same time it engages them as a group to search for collective answers, not as an end in itself, but as a means of deepening the investigation of long-held paradigms and their validity. By combining the philosophy of Socratic dialogue and the model of strategic conversation we designed in our last book, we have arrived at a core list of ten questions that, we believe, provide true strategic wisdom if answered sincerely and fearlessly.
Bear in mind that it was the common quest for this penetrating type of wisdom
