Rich Horwath Keynote Speech on Strategic Thinking
Summary
TLDRRich Horwath, a best-selling author and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute, emphasizes the importance of strategic thinking for business growth. He introduces the '3 A's of Strategy': Acumen (insight), Allocation (resource focus), and Action (staying on track). Horwath stresses that new growth stems from innovative thinking and urges businesses to regularly reassess resource allocation and avoid complacency. He also humorously cautions against neglecting strategic plans, advocating for a continuous strategic dialogue rather than an annual event.
Takeaways
- 📚 Rich Horwath is a renowned author and expert in strategy, having assisted thousands of managers worldwide in enhancing their strategic thinking skills.
- 🌟 Strategy should not be a tedious process akin to a long church sermon that induces sleep, but an engaging and insightful activity.
- 🔄 The concept of 'insanity' in business is doing the same things repeatedly while expecting different results, often termed as 'organizational lobotomy'.
- 🚀 Growth is stimulated by new thinking; without fresh ideas, expecting growth is futile, similar to expecting crops without planting seeds.
- 🧠 The '3 A's of Strategy' framework consists of Acumen (insight), Allocation (focusing resources), and Action (staying focused and avoiding distractions).
- 🎯 Acumen is the initial spark of insight that fuels all great strategies, projects, and initiatives.
- 💼 Allocation involves making trade-offs by choosing to focus resources on certain paths and not others, which is crucial for strategic success.
- 🏃♂️ Action is about maintaining focus on what's important for the business, rather than getting lost in the urgent but less important tasks.
- 🌱 The importance of pruning and reallocating resources is highlighted, as it allows for new growth and prevents stagnation.
- 📉 Even companies with vast resources like General Motors and Lehman Brothers can fail; it's the strategic allocation of resources that truly matters.
- 🗓️ Strategy is not a one-time event but an ongoing dialogue that should be integrated into daily business practices.
- 📑 The script humorously personifies a strategic plan that feels neglected, emphasizing the need for continuous engagement with strategic plans.
Q & A
Who is Rich Horwath?
-Rich Horwath is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best-selling author on strategy, CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute, and a former chief strategy officer and professor of strategy.
What has Rich Horwath helped over 50,000 managers from companies like Google, Kraft, and FedEx to develop?
-Rich Horwath has helped over 50,000 managers develop their strategic thinking skills.
What is the main message Rich Horwath conveys about strategy in his talk?
-Rich Horwath emphasizes that new growth comes from new thinking, and expecting new growth without changing the way of thinking is like expecting different results from the same actions.
What does Rich Horwath define as 'insanity' in business?
-Rich Horwath defines business insanity as doing the same things in the same ways year after year and expecting miraculous new growth.
What is the simple framework Rich Horwath developed for strategic thinking?
-The simple framework Rich Horwath developed for strategic thinking is called the 'Three A's of Strategy' or the 'Three Disciplines of Strategic Thinking'.
What are the three A's of strategy mentioned by Rich Horwath?
-The three A's of strategy are Acumen (insight), Allocation (focusing resources), and Action (staying focused on what's important).
What does Rich Horwath suggest is the number one driver of revenue growth?
-Rich Horwath suggests that the number one driver of revenue growth is the reallocation of resources from underperforming initiatives to overperforming ones.
How often should companies reallocate resources according to Rich Horwath?
-Rich Horwath suggests that great companies, the ones with the best growth, look at their resources on a monthly or quarterly basis for reallocation.
What does Rich Horwath say about the role of strategy in daily work?
-Rich Horwath states that strategy is not an event but a dialogue, and it should be a daily habit rather than an annual two-day pilgrimage.
What is the main issue Rich Horwath identifies with how most people approach strategic planning?
-Rich Horwath identifies that most people don't use their strategic plan to drive daily activity, which can make the planning process ineffective.
What does Rich Horwath suggest is the key to successful business strategy?
-Rich Horwath suggests that the key to successful business strategy is to think differently, to not just be better but to be different, and to give oneself permission, time, and tools to think strategically.
Outlines
📚 Introduction to Strategic Thinking
Rich Horwath, a best-selling author and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute, is introduced as an expert in strategy who has helped over 50,000 managers from major companies develop strategic thinking skills. He emphasizes the importance of new thinking for new growth and introduces the 'three A's of strategy': acumen, allocation, and action. Acumen refers to the insight that starts all great strategies, allocation is about focusing resources and making trade-offs, and action is about staying focused on what's important. He uses the analogy of a farmer planting seeds to explain the necessity of new thinking for growth and warns against the insanity of expecting different results from the same actions.
🌍 Allocation and Trade-offs in Strategy
The speaker uses a personal anecdote from a safari in Africa to illustrate the concept of trade-offs. He explains that trade-offs involve choosing one path over another, which inherently means making decisions and cutting off certain options. This concept is applied to business strategy, where the speaker argues that companies must regularly reallocate resources from underperforming to overperforming initiatives to drive growth. He contrasts the typical annual resource reallocation with the more effective monthly or quarterly reallocation practiced by high-growth companies. The speaker also addresses the common excuse of lacking time or people for strategy, suggesting that strategy should be an ongoing dialogue rather than a one-time event.
🚀 The Importance of Strategic Mindset
Rich Horwath concludes by emphasizing the need for a strategic mindset over mere tactical action. He encourages giving oneself permission and time to think strategically, using tools and questions to facilitate this process. He humorously personifies a strategic plan as a neglected lover to highlight the tendency to abandon strategic plans after their creation. The speaker stresses that great strategies should be simple and actionable, drawing a parallel to the simplicity and appeal of Dr. Seuss's 'Green Eggs and Ham'. He concludes with a call to prioritize strategic thinking, quoting Michelangelo to underscore that success in business begins in the mind.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Strategy
💡Best-Selling Author
💡Strategic Thinking Institute
💡Insanity
💡Organizational Lobotomy
💡Three A's of Strategy
💡Acumen
💡Allocation
💡Action
💡Trade-offs
💡Excellence
💡Reallocation of Resources
Highlights
Rich Horwath is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best-selling author on strategy, and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute.
Rich has helped more than 50,000 managers from companies like Google, Kraft, and FedEx develop strategic thinking skills.
New growth in business comes from new thinking, and expecting growth without it is like expecting crops without planting seeds.
The three A's of strategic thinking: Acumen, Allocation, and Action, form the foundation of successful strategies.
Acumen is about insight — great strategies start with an 'Aha' moment or crucial insight.
Allocation refers to focusing resources, including time, talent, and budget, by making trade-offs and prioritizing.
Action is about staying focused on what's important, avoiding distractions like constant emails or urgent but less relevant tasks.
Excellence is deviation from the norm — doing the same thing in the same way year after year will never yield excellence.
Strategy should not be an annual event but a daily habit, continuously challenging the status quo.
Rich compares the failure to make strategic decisions to the organizational lobotomy, where companies keep doing the same thing expecting different results.
The concept of trade-offs is central to strategy: doing more of one thing means doing less of another.
Great companies reallocate their resources regularly (monthly or quarterly), not just annually, to foster growth.
Strategy is a dialogue, not a one-time event — it should continuously guide day-to-day activities.
The analogy of a strategic plan sitting on a shelf collecting dust illustrates the problem with static, unused strategies.
Success in business begins in the mind — thinking strategically requires giving yourself time, permission, and tools.
Transcripts
rich Horwath is a New York Times Wall
Street Journal and USA Today
best-selling author on strategy as CEO
of the strategic thinking Institute rich
has helped more than 50,000 managers
around the world from companies such as
Google Kraft and FedEx developed their
strategic thinking skills a former chief
strategy officer and a professor of
strategy he helps people think
strategically to grow profits create
competitive advantage and set strategic
direction for their work and life Rich's
appeared on ABC CBS c NBC CNN NBC and
fox TV and has consistently ranked the
number one speaker on strategy at
national conferences
[Music]
now this past Saturday morning I was
sitting in my home office listening to a
CD I recorded a few days earlier on
strategy and I was checking it for any
changes I might need to make my
six-year-old son Luke came into the room
and he plopped down on the big brown
leather chair
I watched him listen for a few minutes
and finally I had to ask so Luke what do
you think of dad's new CD on strategy he
paused for a moment and said it sounds
like Church and not making that
connection I said Church how is it like
Church he said well there's a lot of
talking I don't understand most of it
and I think I'm getting sleepy and it's
very easy for strategy to be that way
but hopefully not today now we've heard
it insanity defined is doing the same
thing over and over again and expecting
different results in business insanity
is doing the same things in the same
ways year after year after year and
expecting miraculous new growth I call
it the organizational lobotomy working
without thinking consider your
organization are the people you work
with highly strategic or are they
constantly fighting fires and being
reactive like bumper cars at a carnival
is strategy an annual two-day pilgrimage
to an off-site meeting at the Holiday
Inn or is it a daily habit there's a
simple but often overlooked premise in
business and that is new growth comes
from new thinking new growth comes from
new thinking expecting new growth for
your business without new ways of
thinking about it is like a farmer
expecting new crops to grow without
first planting the seeds there's a
simple framework I developed called the
three A's of strategy or the three
disciplines of strategic thinking and
those three A's are
human allocation and action acumen is
the insight all great strategy all great
projects all great initiatives start
with that insight that's so what that
AHA the second day is allocation
allocations our ability to focus
resources which are your time talent and
budget by making trade-offs as we'll see
today strategy is as much about what you
choose not to do as it is about what you
choose to do and the third a is action
actions our ability to stay focused on
what's important to the business and not
get distracted by the urgent things that
pop up on email and voicemail the
definition of excellence is deviation
from the norm excellence is deviation
from the norm you know if we're doing
the same normal things that other HR
folks are doing in other normal
companies in the same normal ways that
the market expects us to do them we will
never be excellent so push yourself to
think about not how are we better but
how are we different that's bringing
value to our customers and you look at
companies like General Motors at 150
billion dollars Lehman Brothers at 60
billion dollars going bankrupt today
more than ever having the most resources
guarantees nothing it's how we use or
allocate those resources that really
matters and so the second day in our
framework is allocation allocations our
ability to focus resources by making
trade-offs trade-offs are choosing one
path and not the other as an example
several years ago my wife and I were on
safari in Africa and we took a tour of a
Masai Mara tribal village led by a
native guide and he said the tribal
leader in this village has seven wives
because the women in the village do most
of the work
washing the clothes in the stream to
building the huts that you see out of
sticks and cow dung
so the huts the houses they live in are
actually made of sticks and dried cow
dung which is interesting anyway so
we're finishing up the tour and the
tribal leader the one was seven wives
emerges from his Hut and begins talking
with some of the tourists as we're about
to leave I noticed the tribal leader
talking to my wife and thinking this
might be her contingency plan I wandered
over to eavesdrop on the end of the
conversation and he said to her we have
much work to do here
but our lives are simple and good I am
always looking for the right people to
carry on our traditions I find you to be
attractive and sturdy would you like to
be one of my wives so after a long pause
by an a little too long for my liking
she said you know I love the land here
and the animals are certainly beautiful
but seeing as how many married I'll
respectfully have to pass so on the
bouncy jeep ride back to camp I couldn't
let that conversation go without just a
little jab so I said you know honey it
sounds like your decision earlier boiled
down to me or a house of cow dung and
she said yes and was much closer than
you think because in business is in our
personal lives were constantly faced
with trade-offs and trade-offs involved
incompatible activities more of one
thing means less of another and
inherently when we're making trade-offs
were making decisions and the word
decision comes from the Latin word decid
a day which means to cut off if you have
trees on your property you know that
every few years you've got to cut off
you've got to prune some of the low
branches some of the dead branches to
promote new growth we're really good
about adding things to our plate each
year but what we don't tend to do is
take things off of our plate
are you doing the same things in the
same ways in the same tactics year after
year or are you moving away from the
status quo and doing things differently
the number one driver of revenue growth
is the reallocation of resources from
underperforming initiatives to over
performing initiatives throughout the
year
most companies reallocate resources once
a year and then it pretty much looks
like it did last year
the great companies the ones with the
best growth are the ones that are
looking at their resources on a monthly
or quarterly basis and saying how can we
add new value or different value to what
we're doing
most people say rich I just don't have
the time or the people to do strategy
and hopefully what you're seeing today
is that strategy is not an event it's a
dialogue and you can use the questions
and some of the tools that we've talked
about to start that dialogue hi remember
me I'm your strategic plan you don't
call you don't write what am I supposed
to think
oh sure at the end of last year we were
hot and heavy
we took that two-day getaway to the
strategic planning off-site and you
showered me with time and attention you
told me how much I meant to you and said
we'd always be together
you even brought me to the annual
kickoff meeting and proudly presented me
to everyone then a few weeks passed and
I noticed you paying less attention to
me and more attention to that slinky
young thing you call blackberry after a
few months I didn't see or hear from you
at all I just sat on your shelf dressed
in this red faux leather three-ring
binder collecting dust now it's time to
start planning for next year and all of
a sudden you're back wanting more well
I'm sorry I'm just not that type of
strategic plan now any resemblance that
previous scene is completely
unintentional but highly likely let's
face it most of us don't use our plan to
drive daily activity and if we're not
using
plan to drive daily activity we may have
swell not have done one at all make
great strategies should be simple you
know maybe as simple as my daughter
Jessie she's 5 her favorite dr. Seuss
book which we seem to read almost every
night which is green eggs and ham and if
dr. Seuss was a strategist I think he
might have written something along the
lines of I am strategic strategic I am
do you like to think strategically I do
not like to think strategically not in
an office not in a tree it's more fun to
think tactically stuff I can touch stuff
I can see I do not like to think
strategically I haven't the time to be
so leisurely setting good plans I'll
leave to others got to check my
blackberry even in bed under the covers
no I do not like to think strategically
I prefer the adrenaline rush of mindless
reactivity and Michelangelo said a
person paints with their mind not with
their hands we live in an
action-oriented world but never forget
that your success in business begins
here first in your mind give yourselves
permission time and tools to think
strategically
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
関連動画をさらに表示
Figure Out Your Approach
What is Strategic Thinking? The Deep Dive Strategic Thinking Framework
SUN TZU: Seni Berperang | Ringkasan Buku The Art of War
Grant Wiggins - Understanding by Design (1 of 2)
Bagaimana Menjadi Seorang Strategic Leader | Leadership Vibes
SEJA SÉRIO e SILENCIOSO | 6 TÉCNICAS do silêncio + postura
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)