Everyperson's strategy

We've discussed some high level strategic concepts in the past few articles, and there are a lot of possible directions to go in and actions to take. How do you choose? One of the basic concepts is determination. How badly you want to succeed and what needs to be done to make that happen. However, you also have to take into account the resources that you have available, physical, mental and emotional, and how long you are willing and able to utilize them for this goal.  To accomplish your objectives, you might want to: Study in the evening to get a degree Move to hollywood to audition for movie roles Take a job that you don’t want to gain experience for the job you do want Buy a new wardrobe or car to give yourself the appearance of success Before actually starting any of these things, you need to take a step back and think about the amount of time you expect that it will take you to accomplish your objective versus how long you can actually keep it up. To take the example of getti...

In our last article, we talked about using strategy to get a promotion. Today, we are going to discuss how to get your proposal to speak at a conference accepted.  There’s a conference coming up in a few months and you would like to submit a talk. However, you’ve submitted talks in the past and they haven’t been accepted. Why is this time going to be any different? The difference is that now you have the strategic tools that you can use to give yourself a huge advantage. That’s not a guarantee that your talk will be accepted, but it will give you a better chance.  We’re going to use the same five concepts that we used in the previous article. Can you point out which parts of this belong to which concept? When people think about speaking at conferences, their content is generally the first thing that comes to mind: - I will write an abstract that explains what I want to talk about and submit it. If it gets accepted or not will be a fact of natural selection. - This is not the b...

In the last article, we went through the 5 high level concepts that are critical to developing a strategy. Today, we’re going to discuss what those concepts mean in practical terms. You’ve been working at the same job for a few years and you would like a promotion. There’s a position open that you are qualified for with a higher salary and greater responsibilities. What should you do? If you only start working towards this promotion when you see the open position, you are already far behind. So let’s start a year earlier. You decide that you would like to advance in your career and you look at our 5 concepts. Determination - What are you willing to do to prove yourself worthy of the next level? Put in extra hours at work? Take classes and study in the evening? Volunteer for extra tasks? Give presentations at conferences? It is a good idea to pick a set of roles that you are going for instead of just one specific one, because that will raise your chances of getting chosen for one of the...

In the last article, we discussed a very simple example of using strategy to determine the actions to take to accomplish a goal. In that example, there were 3 factors that needed to be taken into account and one red herring (misleading clue): Factors: How quickly I need to get there (i.e. when the bus will arrive) Traffic Patterns Risk of crossing the street on a red light Red herring: Which light changed to green first Every situation is unique, and must be analyzed to understand which aspects are relevant. You have to determine what you can use to your advantage and what obstacles should be avoided. There are 5 high level concepts involved in a successful strategy.  Determination Your determination to achieve your objective must be greater than the forces in play to prevent it. Timing They say that timing is everything. The same actions will have different effects depending on when they are done. Environment Your environment is the field that the game is being played on. Know the...