The Subtle Art of Strategy: Organizational Planning in Uncertain Times

By Ian Wilson

Strategy--and the planning that created it--has too often failed to deliver its promised results. The reasons for this failure are many and varied, but include an over-reliance on the next big thing in strategic methodology, a failure to recognize and deal with the total change that strategy requires in an organization, and an inability to deal with uncertainty. Wilson argues that strategy is a subtle and demanding art, far more than it is a science or a methodology.

- To succeed in dealing with complex, interacting forces inside and outside the organization, strategy must:
- Deal with the totality of the organization in the context of its total environment (not just one function or one facet of the organization)
- Learn to harness the power of opposites (the sometimes conflicting objectives of the organization, e.g., the long term and short term; vision and execution; economic constraints and social responsibility)
- Deal constructively with pervasive uncertainty in its future
- Develop a strategic vision
- Create a culture that fosters a strategic mindset throughout the organization.

Without constant change and adaptation, a strategy will fail. Continuing success depends, therefore, upon constant learning from customers, competitors, changes in our environment, and our own mistakes.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156720435X
• ISBN13: 9781567204353
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.7"