Part I

• Our default is the option we select automatically in the absence of viable alternatives. Defaults are informed by our ability to recognise and match patterns. Established systems and templates leverage efficiencies identified within complex patterns. Default thinking is, therefore, fast — but not necessarily accurate or conducive to new progress. Our default thinking harbours preferences, assumptions and biases — many of which we are blind to. It is further influenced by the status quo, conventional norms and past precedents.
• A sense of progress has been identified as one of the most powerful motivators at work. The more people perceive that their effort is contributing to progress, the more likely they are to continue to invest effort into that activity. This principle is an important calibration for organisational leaders — it is much less about distant goals and targets, and much more about recognising and celebrating small wins along the way. A deliberate approach utilising the progress principle can make work more inherently motivating.
• Unfortunately, when left unchecked, it is easy to become deluded by progress. This is where efficiency and productivity are valued more than effectiveness and progress. When organisations are cursed with efficiency, it becomes much easier to tackle the ‘busywork' — emails, meetings and other visible routine or operational tasks that provide a rich and immediate sense of progress. To escape the Delusions of Progress, you need to know what meaningful progress looks like.
• Strategic development can identify new pathways for progress, if leaders can suspend the need for fast or immediate solutions and instead engage in a deeper and more thorough level of exploration. If this does not happen, they are likely to default to their defaults, resulting in reasonable, risk-averse strategy very similar to previous iterations.
• Such a risk-averse approach is typical of the arc of life for an enterprise. The arc begins at the startup phase (which can and should also occur within large organisations). From there, assuming reasonable decisions are made, an enterprise will grow, mature and then lose relevance and decline into the tentacles of the Inevitable Kraken of Doom — unless an alternative pathway is embraced.
• Making viable alternative options available to inform strategic decision-making is therefore an imperative — and the main focus of this book.