1. The Big Story: Sydney plans to create a theatre district like Broadway or the West End:
Big Ideas:
- Strategy before tactics. Sydney said, not me.
- A theatre district in Sydney is part of a revitalization and recovery idea that is slowly emerging.
- Like I need another excuse to go back to Sydney.
Let’s get the obligatory Dave loves Sydney stuff out of the way.
Top highlights of Sydney include:
- Bondi Beach and the surf shops looking over the water.
- The Sydney Opera House.
- The Barbershop
- Visiting Angela and Richard for a barbie!
- The parks.
- The CBD.
- The water taxis.
- Walking along the waterfront.
It is a great place. If you’ve always wanted to go, go.
I’ve got no beef with Melbourne, but there is this really big rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney that doesn’t exist between places like LA and NYC.
I’m a fan of Melbourne as well.
So I’m not picking sides in this fight.
But I do want to highlight the importance of strategy to deliver recovery from the pandemic.
First, to get it out of the way, the article talks about how Sydney’s theatre planning has been all tactics and no strategy.
Second, Sydney is a magnificent city with one of the most iconic buildings in the world, great views, and a great vibe.
Third, bringing a theatre district to Sydney would really make Sydney a one-of-its-kind destination. If Sydney is already unbelievable, it is almost unfair for the city to get a theatre district.
Anyway, I only want to highlight the need to think strategy first this week because it is going to be the bulk of my focus next year and I’ve been working on ways to share with folks how to use strategy effectively from diagnosis to formulation to execution.
Let’s begin by the proper order of looking at your strategy.
Yes, even your strategy needs a strategy or framework.
I put it out there like this:
- Diagnosis
- Formulation
- Execution
You have to diagnose the situation, to begin with. This is where most strategic thinking starts and stops with frameworks that help you decipher the situation.
The second step is to formulate a strategy to tackle the issue you want to solve.
You might want to grow your business in a certain sector.
This is where your SMART objectives, your goals, and plans come together.
Execution is the final stage and it is how you make your plans come to life.
Most of the strategic thinking and content revolves around 1 & 3. 2 is most important and often gets left out.
What frameworks should you be using for diagnosis?
There are any number of them, I like to lean on the “Power Framework” from my professor at Cambridge, Dr. Kamal Munir. His framework says that a strategy makes sense if it gains power over customers, competition, and suppliers.
You can also look to the work of the Blue Ocean Strategy folks as well.
Another resource I use is the teachings of Michael Porter.
Analysis is something you get better at through practice, no doubt.
As far as execution, folks seem to have a good grasp on that. In my work, it is often easy to get folks to do the work.
So, look at the specific challenge you are dealing with or the solution you need, let that guide your execution activities.
But formulation of a strategy is where it is at.
An explanation of this is going to take a long time and it is hard work. It is why I have run strategy days for folks this week.
You have to make decisions about what you won’t do, where your focus is, what success looks like, and how you’ll execute.
I’ve joined the board of my son’s soccer club. The framework I’ve been teaching and that’ll I’ll share with members of the board is:
- Define your Destination
- Understand what your market is
- Articulate and understand your competitive advantage
- Identify and accumulate the right resources
- Take action
Each of those is a process in formulation and execution that is essential.
We could go on here for days, weeks, months…but the big thing is that strategy is the difference in a lot of businesses succeeding or failing.
Back to Sydney, recognizing that they’ve been acting tactically for too long is a first step…even, a big one, in getting things fixed and building what will be a world-class theatre district that I can’t wait to visit!
I’ll see y’all in the CBD before the show!