I am asked to help to define a Strategy again. Defining a strategy is something I like the most. I will share some experience.
The most important part of a Strategy is to be become aware of your Potential. If you want to drive very fast but you are not able to buy a car the Strategy to drive a car is a bad strategy.
Many people and of course companies are defining unrealistic targets. This creates Stress and when you are stressed you are unable to see the Facts.
A Strategy has to make it possible to get somewhere with ease. This makes it possible to keep something in your backpack when you are getting hungry.
The next step is to define The Road you want to Travel. There are two possibilities. You define the Road or you define your Destiny. If you define your Destiny you are not able to enjoy the view. You are always searching at every signpost to find you Destiny.
When you travel down the road you meet people (Alliances). When you like them you can take another turn and travel to another place. When you want to reach your destiny you only want to travel with people who take the same turn.
When I discovered the Cycle I tried to map my experience in Strategy on the five Stages.
The first thing I did was to find names that were related to the Strategy-domain. Suddenly I found the Five P’s, Potential, Possibility, Plan, Practice and Protection (connected to Potential again).
When I saw the relationship between the stages and life-cycles I understood why a company is sometimes unable to define a Strategy (Plan) or is so busy (Practice) that they don’t think about this. It has to do with the stage the company is in.
Another important point I discovered was the direction of cycling the cycle. When you travel against the clock you are basically digging your own grave. The Chinese call the Counter Clock Cycle the Insulting Cycle. It moves counter to the Seasons. In Mystic Terms this cycle is the Cycle of Death or the Cycle of the Night and the Moon.
The last point is the Jump. When you don’t want to travel full cycle you can always make a quick jump to the other side and skip stages.
A Cycle based Strategy starts somewhere in the Cycle. This is important. You have to determine if you or your company is in the Stage of Practice or in the Stage of Potential.
The most interesting phase is Protection. This is the moment of Balance but it is the balance you reach at the moment you Die. When you are dead you are able to be Re-Born. You are even able to Jump to a Higher Level of another Rhythm.
Companies that are in the Dying Phase have a tendency to start the Insulting Cycle. They want to move back from this moment of fear.
They are fighting against new small competitors that are almost invisible. They have not created these small competitors themselves. This would have been the best solution. When people are Adults they become parents. When companies are in the phase of practice (a comparable phase) they are competing and not marrying (being cooperative).
The hierarchical (Plan) managed company is dying. The small network-oriented (Possibility) company is rising. The hierarchy is fighting the small competitors but is also fighting his colleagues.
They want to kill them but their strength is gone. They want to marry them (merge) but they are unable to get children. The most disgustful step is that they want to eat them (take-over). What they don’t see is that they are eating “old bodies” and the meat is not rejuvenating.
Mergers and take-overs create highly complex companies that are easy to beat by the small ones. To utilize the merger the companies have to get rid of employees (their Potential) and integrate their highly complex systems (Plan). It focuses the big companies at their internal affairs. They lose their external focus and therefore lose their customers.
This creates enormous opportunities (Possibilty) for the new innovative small network-oriented companies. The big companies give away their market (Practise) for almost nothing without even being aware of this fact (Practise).
