I’m serious.
I spend the better part of my work life framing out strategies, too, trying to provide a guiding and overarching path and plan for doing things. But aside from all of that, there *has* to be room for the unpredictable. The unexpected. The unforeseen.
Human connections – if you really want them as an individual or a business – are not forged on a map or outlined within a framework. Inspiration doesn’t strike within the bounds of the carefully tabbed spreadsheet you created. People come and go, and they evolve, too. Some things change underneath your feet. Some things don’t change when you expected them to. You have to be able to not only adapt, but sometimes just chuck the playbook altogether and go with the flow.
The magic spark of true innovation, friendships of affinity, emotional attachments to things or people are knitted through thousands of moments captured as they happen, when they happen, sometimes nowhere near the script we’ve written.
But too often, we try to harness spontaneous by taking a fleeting, special moment and “scaling” it, repeating it, or jamming it into our slide deck that outlines everything we’re going to do for the year and making it into a “strategy”. And therein lies our eventual downfall.
The intangible fabric of humanity is not made of formulas, but the everyday mingled with the absolutely un-scriptable. Happy, fun, and interesting are not things you effectively engineer. You can recognize it, you can run with it in the moment, but you can’t plan for it. You have to embrace it when. And you need to let the people around you – including your clients, your employees, your teams – do exactly the same thing.
We routinely kill all of that in our work. Stifle it. Policy the crap out of it. And yes, we “strategize”, because that’s what we’re supposed to do in order to prove that we do indeed have a plan. Somewhere along the way, we learned that if it isn’t deliberate, it has no value.
But if you have any interest at all in truly being “human”, “authentic”, or any of the other words we’ve made so empty through our manipulations? Be willing to say to hell with strategy, set aside your carefully plotted binder with the color-coded tabs, and recognize the value of being present in a moment that you didn’t exactly plan for.
I promise it won’t kill you to have a conversation that doesn’t have a discernible ROI. (In fact, it might even encourage someone to have a conversation back.) Let inspiration strike. Consider an idea that’s out of left field. Laugh in the middle of a meeting. Share a cat video. Jump in a puddle. Write something simply because it moves you. Wipe off the whiteboard and scribble.
Most of all, quit planning everything. Life – and business – often happen in between the lines.
I want to agree, and I do with everything written… BUT what about the folks with NO other reason than “if we JUST have a facebook page” and “if we JUST tweet the menu” – where that is not a STRATEGY and it’s NOT a viable Not-STRATEGY as you’ve outlined so well above…?
That’s a whole different kind of problem, Rick. The point here isn’t that strategies themselves are irrelevant or useless. It’s that trying to apply them to everything is a recipe for missed opportunity and a stifled, choked existence in life and work.
If we’re talking business, I’m an advocate for having a plan. I’m also an advocate for breaking it wide open when opportunity and circumstance present themselves well. Actually, come to think of it, I’m pretty much that way across the board.
If a business isn’t smart enough to plan for *anything* or to recognize when there *is* a need to be organized, then I’m afraid the nuance of a point or discussion like this is the least of their problems.
I want to agree, and I do with everything written… BUT what about the folks with NO other reason than “if we JUST have a facebook page” and “if we JUST tweet the menu” – where that is not a STRATEGY and it’s NOT a viable Not-STRATEGY as you’ve outlined so well above…?
I am mocked for my LACK of strategy in both life and career – both of which are quite happy due to my cat-like landing skills – but my strong distaste for policy is rooted in exactly what you call out here: people want to map, diagram, and make-linear Change in hopes of a) replicating it or b) preventing it from ever happening again. This is impossible. (Case in point: Congress.) Overmanipulation kills the sponteneity of a thing and always makes me think of that line from ‘Fight Club’ after Tyler Durden has beaten a pretty boy unrecognizeable, “I felt like destroying something beautiful.” Um… yeah.
LOL – your post really resonated with me Christine. My life has been full of dealing with the unexpected and coming up with contingency plans on the spot (because all the carefully formulated strategies just didn’t pan out how they were supposed to!) And the reality is, some of the most amazing opportunities have come from totally left-field, or from a well-thought out plan going awry.
Sadly, life isn’t neat. It’s one random moment crashing into the next and our “strategizing” is merely our way of trying to feel in control. Which isn’t to say we shouldn’t have plans and goals… we just shouldn’t expect them to be infallible.
Great post Amber.
Not only a brilliant reminder for business folks, but also spot-on advice about fostering flexibility in our kids. So many of us approach parenthood as we do our careers, trying to orchestrate an outcome rather than raise a human being. Thanks for the wisdom, Amber.
Crazy talk. Certifiable perhaps.
Drew
I agree, there is a difference between a strategy and tactic, Facebook is a tactic, part of your social/communications/marketing strategy. A lot of agencies will create a strategy since that equals extra billings.
Unintended results are often the best: ice cream cones, Post-it Notes, Viagra to name just a few. Behind all of them were people who were off-message and off-topic.
I definitely agree! Nothing ever goes exactly as planned, and no strategy ever goes bumpless, so trying to control the uncontrollable is useless. I like to plan as much as I can with enough wiggle room for things to go right, and sometimes things even go better than planned. I like to think strategies should have that room to grow and fail, but have certain failsafes in place to bounce back 🙂
I consider myself a brilliant strategist (eye of the beholder, heh ;)), but according to your blog, I’m not. You see, I don’t use formulas and I definitely don’t set up policies. Even more, I try to work around them when I can. That’s because I kind of do plan in between the lines. I anticipate things to go left or right when I plan to move forward.
I don’t see that process as a flaw in my strategy, but only as a detour to arrive at the set goals. The reason I put most of my work in a plan, is to keep track of my professional progress and to have some kind of direction for anyone who joins me in a project.
So yes, I agree not everything must be set or reused because it worked before. But I also believe you do need goals though.
Thanks for your post – real brain tickler 🙂
Building and maintaining human connections is a tactic/series of tactics. Marketing is driven by tactics. But without a vision, it will drive itself right into a wall. Nobody needs another ven diagram, but if there isn’t at least a rough, flexible roadmap or mission statement, you won’t get to where you thought you were going.
I think the problem stems from the issue that the majority of people do not embrace the philosophy that strategy is a process and not an event. It is not something that is ever “done”. A strategy changes and is modified based on feedback from the outside and that is precisely what you are pointing out.
We all need to develop the our “adaptive capacity” and understand the given the rate of change in today’s world, strategic planning happens in the moment. If we are not quick, we may we dead.
The gap between thinking and doing is shrinking and that requires a very different skill set than the one that got us here.
Great post!
Yes, Amber. Being human and kind and sharing good stuff can’t be strategized. And when I see people trying to do that, it just screams “STRATEGY” and I am turned off and not engaged. I do get that there needs to be a game plan, and measurement matters, but sticking to ‘the plan’ and trying to mechanize relational business models is a waste of time and path to quick irrelevancy.
With respect to social media marketing, I wholeheartedly agree that replicating what works into a lobotomized, systematic process takes away from the entire experience.
I like what you’re saying. I don’t think you’re saying to not have a plan or objectives, but crafting every step along the way *is* overkill.
I get what you’re saying here and I do agree with the fact that policy and bureaucracy has it’s way of crushing authenticity and great social opportunities. But I would much rather have some kind of strategy for everything rather than a lack thereof. I think the real crux of the matter doesn’t really have to do with having a strategy, but about the way you carry it out. Do you stick to it obsessively, or do you take into account the great points you mentioned above – that things change unexpectedly and sometimes you have to improvise?
I’m a huge proponent of being flexible and believe that there is plenty of value in moves that aren’t deliberate – but I don’t think that’s synonymous with coming to play ball without having at least some kind of gameplan. I think that’s an easy trap that many people have fallen into.
Best post I’ve read in a long time….and I actually sat back in my chair, took a deep breath, and began to “enjoy the moment.” Thanks Amber….needed that.
You truly did help bring us all together! I recently read a great post by Andrew Hunt
about how to drive actual revenue from social media for B2B companies, Is Your
B-2-B Social Media Strategy Full of B.S.?, check it out (http://www.inboundsales.net/blog/bid/48273/Is-Your-B-2-B-Social-Media-Strategy-Full-of-B-S).
This is … very Austrian (as in economics) of you. 🙂 People are passion-driven, purpose-driven individuals, not machines with mathematical programmable functions. Great article.
I try to strike this balance. I have a strategy for my org’s social media communications, and I have a schedule I follow. But there are a number of ‘intentional holes’ built into it to accommodate, well, life. Events happen. News breaks. All of these things need room in your plan or you’re risking both being stale and out of touch with the world around you. And it’ll be obvious to those who are watching.
Great post.
Awesome post Amber! I love the
thought behind, “…recognize the value of being present in
a moment that you didn’t exactly plan for.”
This concept goes far beyond just your professional
life but also completely resonates for your personal life.
What a brilliant piece. I couldn’t agree more. Too many people – invariably those without imagination and freedom of thought/spirit – feel the need for answerability and justification. You can spend so much time planning and justifying that the moment passes, the opopportunity is lost and the passion for future creativity is smothered. Result? Everyone loses.
You sort of jumped to the other side of the spectrum (anti-strategy) when really I think you meant to get people to finding the right balance. That balance may not be between strategy and no-strategy, that is, it could be a shifting balance depending on the situation. Ultimately, you still need a sound reason to pursue an action. Your one commenter is on to something with thinking of tactic v.s. strategy.
Good stuff! Naturally your audience is those who can’t breath without an appointment. By nature, most entrepreneurs are creative, out-of-box thinkers, so having the permission to let loose is liberating. Thanks!
Deep down, I want to believe that this is an evisceration of those who live tweet from conferences.