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Let’s do some strategy work today using the 3/2/1 format:
- 3 ideas
- 2 actions
- 1 quote
Here we go.
3 Ideas:
- Tim Burton’s Batman movie revolutionized the idea of movie marketing: If you’ve had the chance to study brand management, you know that movie releases are really good examples of how to launch a product. Around 80% of the budget is spent on the pre-launch and launch stage because once the movie is out and people see it and reviewers get their hands on the film, things can get a little out of your control. But the anticipation, excitement, and buzz of the pre-launch and launch period…that’s magical.
- Roger Martin thinks that strategy is a lost art: Roger is no doubt the best strategy teacher going these days. He writes a weekly piece on Medium that focuses on strategy for practitioners and I get it emailed to me. It is a must-read if you are in strategy. The larger point Roger makes is that strategy has become a lost art form and that the subject isn’t taught very well. I’d tend to agree on both counts. As I’ve been putting together this idea, I’ve been amazed at how hard it is to find really good strategy resources or classes. I took one at Cambridge that I learned from and enjoyed, but it still left me wanting more.
- It is probably no accident that Peloton went south: This was a bit of a strategic disaster that I think we missed because the pandemic covered up a lot of their missteps and the delusions of the CEO. This has hints of We in it where there is a bit of a reality distortion field around the business, but the fundamentals don’t add up. The truth about any successful strategy is that you can look at it through the idea of power structures and whether you have power over your customers, competition, and suppliers. And, pretty quickly, Peloton had power over only the customers that they had and that even their willingness to take the ride was likely waning.
2 Actions:
- Bonfire is supporting helping people with the trauma of war: I know Diana and she’s done a nice job putting together some designs to help fight the trauma being inflicted on the people of Ukraine by the Russian government. I bought an ‘FCK War Make Love’ t-shirt. If you are looking to support an organization that is helping the Ukrainian people, check out what Bonfire is doing.
- Think about where you learn strategy and the decisions you make: This is a two-parter since the first action was about thinking about the victims of the war in Ukraine. First, help me out and think through your resources for strategy learning. If you share your ideas with me, I’ll come up with some shared resource that we can all get into together. Second, spend some time making bets on your decisions and jotting down the way that you have come to your decisions. This is an activity I try to get folks to do to help them hone their strategic chops. Memory can skew the decision making process.
1 Quote:
- “Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in the WW2 years.”As of today, our countries are on different sides of world history. Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself & won’t give up its freedom no matter what Moscow thinks.” — Ukrainian President Zelinskiy
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I’m in London and Birmingham, UK from 13-20 March. London, 13-16. Brum 16-18. London 18-20. I’m going to see about doing a happy hour or meeting up for drinks at some point on 14-15 March. I’ll add a note here when I’ve figured it out.