Summary
Part II
- A quest is the search for an alternative that meets cognitive criteria.
- Business strategy can be viewed from at least two different perspectives: one finite, the other infinite. From a finite perspective, we treat business as a game to be won. From an infinite perspective, we never declare victory. Instead, we focus on progress and the creation of enduring value and relevance. This book embraces the latter philosophy.
- To adventure means to take a risk in the hope of a favourable outcome. Three elements are required to make this happen: a progressive strategy, an enterprise culture that values learning, and leadership that values new thinking.
- To pioneer means to open up a new area, and to lead in the development of new and better ways. Through pioneering leadership, enterprises enable meaningful progress and secure enduring relevance.
- At least three major paradoxes exist within pioneering leadership. First, to gain certainty, we must embrace the fuzziness of uncertainty. Second, to build conviction, we must harness the benefit of doubt. Thirdly, to make meaningful progress, we must avoid success. Victory is never declared.
- The benefit of doubt is often underestimated. Doubt makes ideas stronger, leaders better, and life more wonderful.
- Within every large enterprise exist intrapreneurs — people who seek to leverage their influence to create new value within an enterprise. Savvy leaders foster intrapreneurship, creating startup-like environments in which it is safe to innovate.
- Quest-Augmented Strategy is a framework for meaningful progress. Like all models, it's flawed. But it's also very useful — particularly for enterprises seeking to unlock meaningful progress, new value and enduring relevance.
- This framework maps the distinction between pioneering work (uncertain, unprecedented) with operational work (predictable, precedented). It also maps the distinction between ‘thinking' as the primary focus, and ‘doing'. It's the doing that generates progress, but it's the thinking that makes it meaningful. And vice versa.
- In its simplest form, this framework enables the enrichment of strategy through the creation and capturing of ‘options'. Options represent potential new pathways for an enterprise, and are validated through experiments.
- This process ensures that enterprise leaders have viable alternatives to consider (beyond the default). The pursuit of these viable alternatives can then enhance the likelihood of meaningful progress, new value, and enduring relevance.
- Pioneering leadership is not easy. The path to meaningful progress is frequently non-linear, uphill and against the grain, full of doubt and uncertainty, and fraught with dead ends, setbacks and failure. In order to stay motivated, pioneering leaders don't fixate upon distant goals, but instead develop rituals to review learning, reconnect with purpose and recalibrate their focus. Through dissociated metacognition, pioneering leaders are able to mitigate the effects of cognitive distortion and self-sabotage.
- This is further enhanced when part of a small team. The ideal size of a team is 7±2. At this ‘mini-startup' size, the meaning of people's work is not lost in the crowd, support can be provided to teammates, and communication latency and friction is minimal. It is easy to engage in team rituals, and to connect in more relaxed, social contexts.
- The one overarching question to guide you through pioneering leadership is, Are we making meaningful progress?
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