Know when to hold 'em

There's a big flap in Washington today and a "whodunit" mentality about the leak of the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan's warnings of failure without a large, new infusion of troop strength. In the wake of the "leak," Secretery of State Clinton has called the general's assessment "the exact opposite" of the assessment of other "experts."

Don't worry--this isn't an attempt to stir up controversy or shed opinions about the current political situation.

Instead, it's to ask a simple question: If you have limited resources (in the above example, it's political credibility and sway), where and how should you use them?

When setting out the strategic framework for your company, you evaluate your industry, unique capabilities, drivers, and vision. You develop your list of products and services and identify your target customers and markets. Looking at what you offer and your available markets, you determine which goods and services will be of most appeal to which parts of which markets. Then, you make sure your people and processes support the goal of selling in to your target--current and future--markets.

Not every group in your organization needs to have input in to every process for every product in every marketplace. This is why you develop an overall strategy but then filter it as it gets downstream, applying the scarce resources of your organization where they'll provide the most benefit.

We don't all have the blank-check "freedom" of the Federal government and the mentality of unchecked growth and involvement that seem to go with it. We have to be a bit more careful with our resources, and "know when to hold 'em..."

Why is this such an elusive idea?

Strategy isn't hard--it's life. It's thinking about the things you want to do and deciding how you're going to do them. When you apply that to making money, it's business strategy. When you apply it to conquering or defending territory, it's military strategy.

So why is it so hard? It's because most of us really can't separate building the strategy from the reality of what it means--making or continuing with a change.

Change is--or can be--hard. We like to stick with what we know. But--even though it's hard, hard things can be good.

Let's have a conversation. Let's talk about strategy. This isn't a fishing expedition--this is a real-life look at how things get done and...maybe...how they can get done better.

Mostly we'll probably talk about business--people, processes, systems, products, markets, tools, relationships... Sometimes, we'll talk about world events, politics, and what's going on in the neighborhood--you might be surprised at how much you can learn about making your business successful by thinking about how things work well with your neighbors or even in your own family.

At the end of the day, let's see if we can talk about what works, and how a common-sense approach really does work, even when "the paradigm" is constantly shifting.