Hurdles Webinar 1 Replay
Jumping Hurdles: How Leaders Who Think Big Overcome Challenges to Crafting Long-Term Strategic Plans
Thanks to everyone who made it to the webinar, and for making it so engaging. It was one of those event in which I could hardly keep up with the chat, which is how it should be!
But where is the replay if you’d like to rewatch moments where I was racing along at high speed? And, what if you missed it altogether?
Fortunately, it seems the video and transcript both came out at acceptable quality…all within minutes of closing thanks to Airmeet.
The transcript continues below the video. There’s also a download of the PowerPoint slides used.
(N.B. If you attended the session, you may recognize the “And-But-Therefore” construct in use above.)
Rough Transcript
This transcript was computer generated and may contain errors.
Event:
Jumping Hurdles: How Leaders Craft Their Long-Term Strategic Plans
Session:
Jumping Hurdles: How Leaders Craft Their Long-Term Strategic Plans
00:00:00
Francis Wade
Here's what CEO is seeing.
00:00:02
Francis Wade
I know that I should be doing game-changing long-term strategic planning.
00:00:07
Francis Wade
but
00:00:10
Francis Wade
now there are a few who would say, I don't want to do game-changing. I want to stick stick to the short term and I don't do strategic planning. So there are a few who are like that but today we're not focusing on them instead today. We're dealing with the question of what comes after that but and we're going to start a journey to dismantle all of the reasons and excuses and explanations that CEOs give when they know that they should be doing game-changing long-term strategic planning, but they have nothing written no plan in place. Nothing actually put together maybe a thought in their head, but they don't have a formal plan.
00:00:48
Francis Wade
So if we haven't met my name is Francis Wade and welcome to the webinar today, and I'm going to pop over into the chat just now and make sure that you're hearing me and that your fingers are working because today is going to be an interactive session. Um, so let me jump over into the chat. Just let me know that you're seeing what I'm seeing and that I'm going to start talking to myself.
00:01:09
Francis Wade
Are you there?
00:01:11
Francis Wade
Oh, yeah. Okay. So here we have Michael from
00:01:15
Francis Wade
Yes, you are. Not not hearing Michael. If you're not hearing you could refresh your browser might be explained explanation. Why David Martin? How are you? Sir? Sally? Alansari welcome.
00:01:29
Francis Wade
Tommy T. Welcome to you if we're up and going and you are hearing me and I'm hearing you and welcome to today because today as I said it's going to be interactive and I expect you to use your fingers.
00:01:40
Francis Wade
Mostly. Oh and somebody just dropped an emoji you drop an emoji as you hear us talking practice that emoji click make sure you know that you know how to get that going.
00:01:50
Francis Wade
Okay, let's start with a poll.
00:01:54
Francis Wade
So this poll is kind of based on the question that I just asked and let me know if you can see the poll.
00:02:06
Francis Wade
On the stage right now. Can you see the poll?
00:02:17
Francis Wade
We have to scroll down a little bit to see the see the answers, but go ahead and answer that poll.
00:02:24
Francis Wade
Okay, I see some answers coming in question is from the CEOs you have met how do most of them explain the lack of a written long-term which was a game-changing long-term strategy because that's what we're here. And that's what we're about.
00:02:38
Francis Wade
From the ones you've met how do they explain the fact that they don't have a written long-term strategy?
00:02:46
Francis Wade
Go ahead and answer in the poll. Uh, we have a looks like we have a winner already. This is interesting.
00:02:51
Francis Wade
To busy is currently winning by.
00:02:57
Francis Wade
Other s shareholders want immediate returns could be other stakeholders as well.
00:03:03
Francis Wade
Followed by let's see too busy. Still winning.
00:03:07
Francis Wade
Don't know how to get started. My board would never go for it, you know.
00:03:12
Francis Wade
Executives get short-term incentives. So the executives in the sea Suite aren't interested in anything long term because they're around for 3 4 5 years and then they're gone.
00:03:22
Francis Wade
But looks as if we are still winning with too busy and in second place, we have shareholders want immediate returns.
00:03:32
Francis Wade
Interesting. So thanks for thanks for responding and keep going if you're just joining us. We have a poll on the stage.
00:03:39
Francis Wade
And I'm going to use these answers in the way that I think about how to respond to what we're doing today.
00:03:46
Francis Wade
Too busy still ahead.
00:03:49
Francis Wade
Great.
00:03:57
Francis Wade
so it looks like
00:04:01
Francis Wade
uh, if you're not seeing the numbers the actual responses 47% is too busy.
00:04:08
Francis Wade
25% is shareholders want uh immediate returns, but the the clear winner is
00:04:13
Francis Wade
too busy.
00:04:15
Francis Wade
Of course, we're going to ask the question too busy doing what exactly.
00:04:19
Francis Wade
But anyway, I'm going to close the poll. Thank you all for responding and
00:04:25
Francis Wade
let's get going. I'm going to share my screen.
00:04:28
Francis Wade
Thank you very much.
00:04:32
Francis Wade
And let's get my screen share and I'm going to tell you a little bit about what the purpose of today is.
00:04:37
Francis Wade
So I think you've probably already figured out but let's see.
00:04:46
Francis Wade
It's quite getting there.
00:04:54
Francis Wade
okay, so the purpose of the day is to answer the question what comes after the but
00:04:60
Francis Wade
So we know that the excuses are out there and the reasons are being given and what we want to know today is.
00:05:07
Francis Wade
But why?
00:05:09
Francis Wade
Why because we're interested in finding out exactly what we can do about it.
00:05:13
Francis Wade
So we're not just watching and criticizing and passing judgment on those who should be doing long-term should strategic thinking that game-changing want to ask what can we do about it? What difference can we make?
00:05:25
Francis Wade
So as I mentioned before today is going to be interactive. There will be a giveaway at the end in the form of a quiz personal answers. The quiz gets the giveaway. Um after the presentation is done.
00:05:36
Francis Wade
I'm going to be in the chat and we're going to be answering a couple questions if you have a burning question just
00:05:42
Francis Wade
Stay around for that moment. But also if you have a question as we are proceeding.
00:05:46
Francis Wade
Put it in the Q&A. You'll see that there's a sign that I put here with a points to a little queue and an a it may not be purple. But that's where you drop a question. If you really want to get my attention. That's the easiest way for me to find the questions that are sort of on your mind as we go along. So you may not know that today's webinar is the first of a series.
00:06:10
Francis Wade
We're gonna have a webinar in me another 1 in June and what we're leading up to is a virtual conference on June 20th to 21st.
00:06:17
Francis Wade
You'll hear more about that later, but you let's talk about you some more.
00:06:21
Francis Wade
Are you in the right place?
00:06:23
Francis Wade
You may think that well, I'm in a for-profit. Is this really for people who are out to improve shareholder value long-term value and serious. Yes.
00:06:33
Francis Wade
and for many companies
00:06:35
Francis Wade
there are very few if any long-term.
00:06:40
Francis Wade
Beh hacks big hairy audacious schools long-term measurable results that companies commit to my my long-term. I mean 10 years plus
00:06:50
Francis Wade
Now I know that there are some companies who say well our long-term starts on in year 5, that's not what we're talking about. That's more of the same. Just this guy is with a different name. We're talking about our long-term commitments and for profits many for profits have CEOs and executive teams that don't make
00:07:11
Francis Wade
public any long-term commitments
00:07:14
Francis Wade
So if you're in a for-profit, you're in the right place.
00:07:16
Francis Wade
If you're in a nonprofit or an NGO or in a government kind of um role.
00:07:25
Francis Wade
You may know that your your organization is very good. Perhaps at setting long-term goals, like the sdgs for example, sustainable development goals. There are well established. There are very aspirational. They have a measurable outcome. They're smart in other words.
00:07:40
Francis Wade
but
00:07:41
Francis Wade
they may lack a detailed strategy or a strategy to get there.
00:07:46
Francis Wade
They may have set those goals and basically said if you build it, they will come.
00:07:52
Francis Wade
So is that true? We will find out today.
00:07:57
Francis Wade
Or maybe if you are someone who is not you're not in an organization that does strategic planning here, but you're someone who cares about the topic because you're a leader of some kind you're a change agent or an advocate maybe for social change. You're a consultant perhaps you could be an author or content creator you care about these ideas because you realize that they
00:08:19
Francis Wade
will and can change the world.
00:08:22
Francis Wade
And they're not being taught and we don't talk about them.
00:08:27
Francis Wade
And we don't really confront the fact that the long-term problems that we're facing as a planet are a function of short-termism.
00:08:36
Francis Wade
and companies of all kinds organizations of all kinds and by organizations I include
00:08:42
Francis Wade
Like I said for profit.
00:08:44
Francis Wade
private family-owned public
00:08:48
Francis Wade
and nonprofit NGO government, I even include clubs churches schools any organization where people get together because where we come from here at framework and jump leap is that every organization can develop a long-term strategy and we will be better for it and that could reverse some of the decline that we've seen in achieving Global change like climate change making a difference there.
00:09:15
Francis Wade
So I want you to imagine for a moment that you're able to talk to leaders in a way that helps them to close these gaps.
00:09:23
Francis Wade
Might imagine also that you could help companies commit to realistic big hairy audacious goals.
00:09:30
Francis Wade
B hacks
00:09:31
Francis Wade
that they're not scared of doing so and actually gain the benefits.
00:09:36
Francis Wade
According to the folks who came up with the idea and the research that they conducted.
00:09:41
Francis Wade
Let's see in how nonprofits achieve their biggest visions.
00:09:47
Francis Wade
Like the sdgs sustainable development goals or Net Zero 2050 here in Jamaica. We have a Jamaica Vision Vision in Jamaica 2030.
00:09:58
Francis Wade
Vision 2030 Jamaica sorry, so question for you. What would it be like?
00:10:04
Francis Wade
To be able to persuade.
00:10:07
Francis Wade
The sea Suite leaders in the world and when I say sea Suite I mean profit or non-profit anyone who's at the leadership level.
00:10:15
Francis Wade
So commit to game-changing long-term strategy as a matter, of course now, I don't mean that it's done in short term strategy, but in addition to put that in the chat, so I know that we're on the same page here and that your commitment is kind of similar to mine. If not exactly identical to the same. What would that be like?
00:10:37
Francis Wade
Drop a note in the chat. Let's see.
00:10:39
Francis Wade
This is the part where you use your fingers, by the way, I should have told you to turn off Facebook turn off Netflix turn off Twitter whatever else you are doing in the meantime and focus on this Marceline says fulfilling Chris really powerful.
00:10:58
Francis Wade
Okay, who else?
00:11:00
Francis Wade
What would it be like to have that kind of influence and leverage and to make that kind of difference in the world empowering?
00:11:08
Francis Wade
Yeah, very good Paul, you know when I think of of this being empowering this conversation this possibility
00:11:15
Francis Wade
I think of being able to influence any organization if not all and I mean the ones around you right now not the ones like the UN words this Mega organization is thousands of people and their somewhere in New York know I'm talking about the the school that your kids go to.
00:11:34
Francis Wade
I mean the
00:11:36
Francis Wade
the the clubs that you belong to
00:11:39
Francis Wade
I mean the rotary that you attend.
00:11:43
Francis Wade
the temple
00:11:44
Francis Wade
that you're uh part of the congregation in which you're part of the congregation all of them.
00:11:50
Francis Wade
If all our organizations were to do what we're talking about today wouldn't be talking about climate change. It wouldn't be an issue. So I hope that you are able to start to see where these obstacles come from.
00:12:01
Francis Wade
That they're not.
00:12:03
Francis Wade
mysterious
00:12:06
Francis Wade
they can be understood.
00:12:10
Francis Wade
And that if you have concerns about engaging people in the idea of long-term strategy that this will help you to go beyond your concerns.
00:12:17
Francis Wade
And you also I'm hoping that you'll be able to have something to say to people who look at you kind of funny when you say long term.
00:12:25
Francis Wade
And they say I I can barely get through the week.
00:12:29
Francis Wade
Barely being able to get through the week and creating long-term game-changing strategy are actually not mutually exclusive but people don't know that because we live in a world of urgent concerns. But how what can you say to them to actually be effective?
00:12:44
Francis Wade
In our series starting with this webinar the 1 in Maine the 1 in June and the conference. We're going to be helping you to give you ways to think and ways to to speak.
00:12:54
Francis Wade
And you will get some of your suspicions confirmed.
00:12:57
Francis Wade
You may have thought hmm, maybe the reason is and maybe the reason might be and maybe it's just that people aren't we'll be talking about some of those but above all I want to encourage you to pursue your aspirations to make a difference.
00:13:10
Francis Wade
Okay, so let's put up another poll because I've used this term and I want to make sure you know what I'm talking about.
00:13:16
Francis Wade
What the heck is a beehive?
00:13:20
Francis Wade
So can you see the poll on the stage?
00:13:23
Francis Wade
If you can't see it drop a note in the chat.
00:13:27
Francis Wade
What? Oh, I got a typo in there. What do you think of B hacks?
00:13:33
Francis Wade
Never heard of them is is the winner at the moment.
00:13:39
Francis Wade
It's a big b hack is a big hairy audacious goal.
00:13:44
Francis Wade
The idea behind it came from built to last Collins and porus.
00:13:48
Francis Wade
So it was written in a bit, I believe 1994.
00:13:53
Francis Wade
we're going to be talking about them a bit in a bit few more minutes, but
00:13:57
Francis Wade
you perhaps have never heard of a a a beehag, but it's just a big commitment.
00:14:03
Francis Wade
And it's an essential part of long-term strategic planning. Why?
00:14:07
Francis Wade
Because the point is not to spend not to have to spend more time.
00:14:12
Francis Wade
Put more time in your plan that you need. It's that backs don't happen by themselves.
00:14:19
Francis Wade
They need this secret element that we're going to talk about.
00:14:24
Francis Wade
mixed opinions
00:14:41
Francis Wade
great. Thanks for voting. I'm going to take that poll down.
00:14:47
Francis Wade
gives me an idea I'll use the term, but I'll be
00:14:51
Francis Wade
Explaining what it means all the way throughout so I'm not just throwing around.
00:14:55
Francis Wade
But let me ask you this what happens when people don't make big commitments.
00:15:04
Francis Wade
What happens?
00:15:06
Francis Wade
When people don't make big commitments.
00:15:09
Francis Wade
Chop an answer in the chat. So I'm not just asking this for you to think about it on your own.
00:15:14
Francis Wade
1 of the points of our us doing a series of webinars and a conference is to get people talking to each other.
00:15:20
Francis Wade
Who care about?
00:15:22
Francis Wade
long-term strategy and care about game-changing results
00:15:26
Francis Wade
So Tim says fighting fires versus building very good.
00:15:31
Francis Wade
They don't remain consistent Tammy Wright. The pandemic comes and blows them all all of their commitments away and they start looking for a short-term survival. Let me make small commitments and get small results Chris. Thank you. Nicholas. Don't know where you are going to
00:15:45
Francis Wade
You don't know where you're going to enroll. Take you there, right?
00:15:48
Francis Wade
Losing the meaning of life.
00:15:53
Francis Wade
why work
00:15:53
Francis Wade
When work devolves into a paycheck in exchange for an activity.
00:15:59
Francis Wade
then
00:16:00
Francis Wade
there's not much there to inspire us make a difference.
00:16:05
Francis Wade
Touch us and move us.
00:16:08
Francis Wade
The good news. Is that most CEOs.
00:16:11
Francis Wade
Almost every single 1. I've met would never say that they don't believe in B hacks.
00:16:16
Francis Wade
They want to leave a mark on the world.
00:16:19
Francis Wade
In the public sector they want for example to produce a amazing Planet changing results like the 17s. They were created in 2015.
00:16:31
Francis Wade
Target date is 2030.
00:16:34
Francis Wade
And in those 15 years, there are 17 Wicked problems that the UN has stated it wants to solve by 2030.
00:16:45
Francis Wade
huge game-changing results
00:16:48
Francis Wade
in a private sector companies like Facebook Netflix Apple all have introduced game-changing solutions that change their industries that open doors where doors were closed that give opportunity where none existed?
00:17:05
Francis Wade
No, you may say why are CEOs. Why do they want these things? All right, let's be honest.
00:17:10
Francis Wade
Some of them want to save the planet some of them want to make a difference. Some of them don't care about people and they care about customers so much that
00:17:17
Francis Wade
and then there are others.
00:17:19
Francis Wade
Who?
00:17:22
Francis Wade
Really just want fame.
00:17:26
Francis Wade
The are concerned about their bonus.
00:17:30
Francis Wade
They realize that their stock options are going to invest in a couple of years.
00:17:34
Francis Wade
And after that they're free to do what they want and they're planning to not stay more than a few years.
00:17:41
Francis Wade
So there is that some just want everyone to you know, think of them highly in the sense that they have left the Legacy.
00:17:49
Francis Wade
That they didn't come and waste the time that they were there as a CEO people wouldn't say that when he was a CEO or she was a CEO the place got worse and it's 10 times 10 times.
00:18:02
Francis Wade
10 times more 10 times better or worse
00:18:05
Francis Wade
he left a disaster and thank goodness. He's gone or she's gone. Most CEOs aren't interested in that. They want to be thought of now a lot of CEOs. I've met are
00:18:17
Francis Wade
Like myself big eagles. Oh
00:18:20
Francis Wade
But that's okay.
00:18:22
Francis Wade
because if we can get them to
00:18:25
Francis Wade
not necessarily change, but commit to more than that little list of things that I have there that are more personal and individual.
00:18:35
Francis Wade
Given how many organizations there are in the world?
00:18:39
Francis Wade
And how many CEOs I think believe and be hacks if you ask them.
00:18:44
Francis Wade
And want to do game produce game changing results.
00:18:48
Francis Wade
that
00:18:49
Francis Wade
we should have a thousand people at this webinar, right?
00:18:52
Francis Wade
Well, we have you.
00:18:54
Francis Wade
And the role that you can play in conversations with them.
00:18:57
Francis Wade
Because a lot of them are going to say, you know, what can I do with the short time that I'm here?
00:19:02
Francis Wade
Lots of ways to answer that and we won't answer all of them, but
00:19:07
Francis Wade
think about
00:19:10
Francis Wade
A CEO or a leader of any kind any organization committing to results that are Beyond his or her tenure or even Beyond his or her lifetime?
00:19:19
Francis Wade
We like leaders like that.
00:19:23
Francis Wade
Unfortunately in most CEOs don't live that way.
00:19:25
Francis Wade
So my friends the CEOs themselves may not be the instant solution.
00:19:32
Francis Wade
Here we are.
00:19:36
Francis Wade
Here we are.
00:19:37
Francis Wade
There's a bunch of long-term.
00:19:39
Francis Wade
type of thinking people right here in this webinar
00:19:42
Francis Wade
and I say
00:19:45
Francis Wade
we are at the heart of this because we're the glue that connects a commitment.
00:19:52
Francis Wade
to producing
00:19:54
Francis Wade
beehives or accomplishing them
00:19:57
Francis Wade
and where people are right now.
00:20:01
Francis Wade
so interestingly the authors of
00:20:05
Francis Wade
built to last Collins and porous
00:20:08
Francis Wade
After they produce their book couple of years later, they wrote.
00:20:12
Francis Wade
Uh an article for the Harvard Business review and in that article was this diagram.
00:20:17
Francis Wade
And it was the first time they sort of slipped in an afterthought.
00:20:21
Francis Wade
Which was that? Guess what?
00:20:23
Francis Wade
10 to 30 year be hacks. If you can't read that in the blue, it says envisioned future 10 to 30 year be hacks for the first time. They actually acknowledged that guess what?
00:20:36
Francis Wade
Be hacks aren't a 3 and 4 year Journey.
00:20:39
Francis Wade
The hacks take time.
00:20:42
Francis Wade
Which puts the owners on us maybe as long term strategies and long-term thinkers that perhaps we are the hidden glue.
00:20:50
Francis Wade
between CEOs accomplishing
00:20:53
Francis Wade
their wildest dreams
00:20:54
Francis Wade
Society planet
00:20:57
Francis Wade
because we're the 1 who connects today.
00:21:00
Francis Wade
With the biggest aspirations that people can imagine in their lives.
00:21:06
Francis Wade
Unfortunately, we as a human race. We're not very good at this. We have some psychological limitations. We don't really understand long term strategic planning. And right now the the head of the Secretary General of the UN and Tony a good terrorist said unless we act now the 2030 agenda will become an Epitaph for a world that might have been I read his words.
00:21:28
Francis Wade
Studied what the UN is doing and I said, I think this is a lack of strategic planning long-term strategic planning.
00:21:35
Francis Wade
Because many of those goals as I said come from that world of if you build it they will come.
00:21:42
Francis Wade
and that's not
00:21:44
Francis Wade
that demonstrates a lack of understanding of long-term strategic planning.
00:21:49
Francis Wade
Because guess what? We human beings have a very hard time getting big things done. Now that turns out there's a book by this name.
00:21:57
Francis Wade
Oh, I didn't properly. Oh, alright. I'll read the names bent flegg and Dan Gardner.
00:22:04
Francis Wade
So like email both of them and I've been reading excerpts from their book, but caught both heard both of them on podcast.
00:22:12
Francis Wade
And couple examples they gave was of the Montreal Olympics. So the Montreal Olympics was 720% over budget.
00:22:20
Francis Wade
and the Sydney Opera House
00:22:23
Francis Wade
10 years and 100 um, Australian dollars
00:22:27
Francis Wade
over budget and over time turns out
00:22:31
Francis Wade
less than 1%
00:22:32
Francis Wade
of big projects
00:22:35
Francis Wade
there are budget.
00:22:37
Francis Wade
time and deliver the features that they promise
00:22:41
Francis Wade
so
00:22:41
Francis Wade
as you listen to these experts and they
00:22:45
Francis Wade
they've studied thousands of companies. They have the data. You see that back to what I said before boy. We have a problem.
00:22:51
Francis Wade
we need
00:22:53
Francis Wade
B hacks
00:22:55
Francis Wade
in order to accomplish them. We need long-term strategy.
00:22:59
Francis Wade
But there's a big problem when it comes to accomplishing anything that requires a multi-year commitment. That's our sizable nature.
00:23:08
Francis Wade
So here in this you may think oh
00:23:11
Francis Wade
Let me give up now.
00:23:13
Francis Wade
let me just disappear because it could lead to a feeling of frustration which leads to
00:23:18
Francis Wade
Even saying let me just give up on this endlessly my life and just keep going.
00:23:22
Francis Wade
Forget about the Next Generation.
00:23:24
Francis Wade
They can figure it out.
00:23:26
Francis Wade
Well, they probably won't.
00:23:29
Francis Wade
Here there's a picture of someone running before coid and what it looked like after Co.
00:23:35
Francis Wade
And you probably have seen some of the pictures.
00:23:38
Francis Wade
that Co when we stopped polluting the atmosphere in the way that we've been doing cleared up temporarily all kinds of
00:23:47
Francis Wade
environmental problems
00:23:49
Francis Wade
temporarily
00:23:51
Francis Wade
illustrating that
00:23:53
Francis Wade
we have long-term issues that we have put into place just because we've been living on this planet.
00:24:00
Francis Wade
And doing the things that we do maybe innocently.
00:24:04
Francis Wade
Maybe not so innocently.
00:24:05
Francis Wade
More ignorantly maybe.
00:24:08
Francis Wade
But if we don't make long-term commitments and create long-term strategy to accomplish it.
00:24:14
Francis Wade
We have a problem.
00:24:16
Francis Wade
Okay, so have a great great question in the chat or comment in the chat for the tech execs who say their business are changes too fast for long term planning.
00:24:25
Francis Wade
to consider this because I use it as an example of what you can learn from hanging around a conference where we're talking about this issue and
00:24:38
Francis Wade
this issue of game-changing long-term strategic planning only.
00:24:41
Francis Wade
So kind of an obscure article from 2008.
00:24:46
Francis Wade
from um
00:24:47
Francis Wade
Andrew Curry and Anthony Hudson Journal of future studies
00:24:52
Francis Wade
Seeing in its really 3 Horizons.
00:24:55
Francis Wade
But let me give you an idea of what this talk is talking about their paper is talking about.
00:25:00
Francis Wade
so this idea is based on the fact that
00:25:03
Francis Wade
initially
00:25:05
Francis Wade
What they call the first horizon.
00:25:07
Francis Wade
There's a pretty decent fit between what companies do and their external environment their markets, uh their customers.
00:25:17
Francis Wade
um the technology the regulated government regulations
00:25:22
Francis Wade
would investors are willing to pay for and so forth. There's a pretty good fit.
00:25:26
Francis Wade
and over time that
00:25:29
Francis Wade
fit
00:25:31
Francis Wade
Sort of naturally decays.
00:25:33
Francis Wade
So Jeff Bezos says there are some things that don't change.
00:25:37
Francis Wade
And his thinking is brilliant with respect to figuring out the things that don't change here. We're looking at the things that do change things like products being offered services.
00:25:50
Francis Wade
And so forth so there's a natural decay.
00:25:51
Francis Wade
So let's jump to the third Horizon.
00:25:54
Francis Wade
These authors came up with and what they said is that
00:25:59
Francis Wade
As you consider the future.
00:26:01
Francis Wade
There are actually pockets of the future available today.
00:26:06
Francis Wade
So I've seen this because in a strategic planning Retreat and I've I've been
00:26:12
Francis Wade
lucky to have fortunate to have been part of more than 50 long-term Sushi planning Retreats where we have came out with long term meaning 15 to 30 years and short-term strategic plans all all bundled together into woven.
00:26:28
Francis Wade
but
00:26:30
Francis Wade
these ideas about the future actually come from start from the very beginning of the retreat in other words. They're available.
00:26:39
Francis Wade
So the retreat starts and mostly what the conversation is about are these things?
00:26:45
Francis Wade
In first the first horizon, but then we start to explore. What's
00:26:50
Francis Wade
Happening now that tells you what's going to happen in the future.
00:26:54
Francis Wade
And we start to build a future.
00:26:56
Francis Wade
A vision based on these you might call them weak signals.
00:27:03
Francis Wade
That are available today.
00:27:06
Francis Wade
So I skipped over a horizon.
00:27:10
Francis Wade
There's a second Horizon these authors say
00:27:13
Francis Wade
so what's the second Horizon? So the second Horizon?
00:27:18
Francis Wade
is kind of a in between
00:27:20
Francis Wade
it's when you realize that the products and services that you're offering are no longer. They're going through a decline.
00:27:28
Francis Wade
You can't come up with something to fill the gap.
00:27:32
Francis Wade
But what you come up with to fill the Gap isn't based on the future.
00:27:36
Francis Wade
It's based more on the past.
00:27:38
Francis Wade
In other words, it's kind of a stop Gap measure the kind of the short-term thinking that we talked about earlier kind of thing that you do to make sure you don't go out of business right now.
00:27:47
Francis Wade
You may realize at the time that it has no long-term future, but this is what's going to pay the bill. So let's do it.
00:27:53
Francis Wade
So there's 3 Horizons.
00:27:56
Francis Wade
in every strategic planning retreat
00:27:60
Francis Wade
and they all coexist.
00:28:04
Francis Wade
Now here's the sort of the difficult thing that I've seen.
00:28:08
Francis Wade
is that
00:28:09
Francis Wade
there is a messy middle.
00:28:12
Francis Wade
According to that's a phrase that I came up with but it's I borrowed it from from these these these authors.
00:28:20
Francis Wade
the messy middle
00:28:20
Francis Wade
Is what strategic planning Retreats are all about?
00:28:24
Francis Wade
its
00:28:25
Francis Wade
coming together as a group.
00:28:27
Francis Wade
To decide what's in the first horizon.
00:28:30
Francis Wade
What's in the third? And what should be in the second?
00:28:34
Francis Wade
And if you see the slopes of these graphs or in other words how fast these things are changing.
00:28:40
Francis Wade
You can imagine if you've never been in a retreat that's looking at 15 to 30 years old. There's a considerable.
00:28:47
Francis Wade
Amount of conversation and discussion and sometimes argument over. What's the nature of this messy middle?
00:28:55
Francis Wade
And how to navigate it.
00:28:58
Francis Wade
So this is just a let's call it the preview to some of the ideas that we'll be talking about at the conference.
00:29:03
Francis Wade
but I wanted to introduce to you because I wanted to
00:29:07
Francis Wade
contrast it with the short-term school of thought.
00:29:10
Francis Wade
So the short-term school of thought says we don't need to look past. You see where that blue that Blue Block starts. We don't need to look past that point. We just need to look at
00:29:22
Francis Wade
Window, look at that window everything else we can ignore.
00:29:29
Francis Wade
No, it may sound crazy to you. But this is human nature and
00:29:33
Francis Wade
I've I know I've seen it. I'm not sure you have but let me ask you why is the short-term school of thought so tempting.
00:29:42
Francis Wade
Why do companies?
00:29:44
Francis Wade
Organizations in the many that have failed there's the code acts of the world the Blockbusters the blackberries and so forth. Why is this school of thought so tempting and why do they you know, obviously they do see a diagram like this 1 with 3 Horizons, which is like, oh my God, they do exist.
00:30:04
Francis Wade
Instead they kind of focus on that first bit.
00:30:07
Francis Wade
Right where it goes up.
00:30:09
Francis Wade
And they're able to project and say oh look we've done well in the past we're going to do well in the future.
00:30:14
Francis Wade
Uh, Mike McPherson says more knowns and less unknowns right? Very good. John says
00:30:20
Francis Wade
don't have to seriously commit.
00:30:23
Francis Wade
Myself it says it's because it's familiar. It's it's extremely comfortable right to stay looking at the short term.
00:30:30
Francis Wade
It's it's I could from experience like there's way way harder and I actually wrote a letter A an article on the jump newsletter.
00:30:41
Francis Wade
On a comparison between a short-term Retreat that I did on a long-term Retreat turns out the difference in time was only 4 hours.
00:30:47
Francis Wade
Anyway, I invite you to take a look and see why it was only 4 hours. So the time difference is not that much but the way of looking has more to do with a frame of mind than it does putting in a whole lot of extra hours.
00:31:01
Francis Wade
Richard Adams said it's a path of least resistance.
00:31:04
Francis Wade
Yes, so we have our work cut out for us because the easy path.
00:31:09
Francis Wade
ignores
00:31:11
Francis Wade
The 3 Horizons the easy path says just stick to the first horizon and make your plans from there. So a little bit about myself, um and my background I mentioned before or experienced in my company doing long-term strategic planning or what we call interwoven short and long-term strategic planning of a game-changing nature. So I've always loved game-changing.
00:31:34
Francis Wade
Ideas and the idea of a transformation starting from when I was an Ardent Church goer and I love the idea of transforming oneself.
00:31:46
Francis Wade
um
00:31:47
Francis Wade
and I I, you know, I used to convince people to come to church and become change to the religion that I belong to and come and be a believer and
00:31:57
Francis Wade
And I love the idea of being able to share the gospel.
00:31:60
Francis Wade
And having people learn from it and grow from it and become different people.
00:32:04
Francis Wade
So I've always loved this idea of people can transform, uh later on. However
00:32:11
Francis Wade
um
00:32:12
Francis Wade
I continued my and I'll show you some more details about how I transferred it into actually Corporation. So I started to transformation working companies and what we discovered is that we could be effective in inspiring employees and they came up pretty excited and pretty turned on.
00:32:29
Francis Wade
and we had a feeling that we were letting them lose to do great things and we were
00:32:34
Francis Wade
but the great things weren't defined. So what our clients come back to us and say, you know, you've excited our staff they're extremely engaged and they're turned on I know they want projects to do because that was a part of the programs that we would do.
00:32:48
Francis Wade
but we don't know what projects to give them and I would say oh, um
00:32:54
Francis Wade
What what do you have in your strategic plan?
00:32:56
Francis Wade
And they would say huh? They didn't have a strategic plan. Not really. They would have a bunch of problem solving sessions but not a real plan.
00:33:06
Francis Wade
And they would decide they they said, you know, we we don't know what to tell our staff. We don't know what direction we need to send them in. So we we in our companies say well we need to figure out a way to
00:33:20
Francis Wade
Give folks Direction give our clients.
00:33:22
Francis Wade
Big Direction so that they can accomplish these big possibilities these bags. These are awesome things that the company could produce.
00:33:30
Francis Wade
So I have that as a commitment, but nothing really happened until september of 2000 when the article written by Robert Kaplan.
00:33:40
Francis Wade
Kaplan and Norton and David Norton the 2 folks 2 2 gentleman in the top top right hand corner came out in the Harvard Business review.
00:33:48
Francis Wade
And I grabbed that I didn't grab it. I read the article but
00:33:52
Francis Wade
I read it reread it reread it and then started sharing with everybody that I knew.
00:33:57
Francis Wade
and that became
00:33:59
Francis Wade
our way of starting to do long-term strategic planning.
00:34:03
Francis Wade
Because it gave us a way to explain cause and effect relationships that I just never seen before.
00:34:08
Francis Wade
so
00:34:10
Francis Wade
I was a happy camper.
00:34:13
Francis Wade
And I'm going to think that the 3 Secrets May apply to the situation that you're in. So let's jump right in and take a look at them.
00:34:30
Francis Wade
So the first Secret
00:34:32
Francis Wade
is how to multiply your impact without having to
00:34:37
Francis Wade
sort of go back and study a bunch of books do a lot of reading now, you know, I came to my Epiphany and my commitment 20 years ago 204 years ago. Wow.
00:34:52
Francis Wade
Because I read an article.
00:34:54
Francis Wade
but there's other ways to do this that are way more effective and
00:35:01
Francis Wade
offer a great shortcut. Let's put it that way.
00:35:03
Francis Wade
So 1 way.
00:35:06
Francis Wade
Is to be around other people and that's why my my colleague and I I didn't mention her Dale pilgrimage. She's in the chat and she's the co-host of everything that we do.
00:35:16
Francis Wade
But that's why we've put on 10 to start of Co.
00:35:21
Francis Wade
Because you realize that conference is offered in an experience and I'm going to come back to this model, uh in just a moment, but I mentioned that I I love personal personal development. And the way I came to think about personal development was that it was something that you read in a book.
00:35:40
Francis Wade
or listen to an audio
00:35:40
Francis Wade
So a week in the chat with him by Tony Robbins was the first thing that I picked up and listened to I had the book, but I was too scared to write read the book.
00:35:49
Francis Wade
I got the audios listen to the audio was driving in the car. I was scared because I thought it would tell me to quit my job and go become a monk or something, you know, you know a fear like that.
00:35:59
Francis Wade
But anyway, I listened to these audios.
00:36:02
Francis Wade
In his audio. He wrenched mentioned the book of Return To Love.
00:36:05
Francis Wade
And these 3 books are among the first that I read and I access to developing myself and growing myself was.
00:36:14
Francis Wade
by reading individual study
00:36:17
Francis Wade
and I thought that's what needs to happen.
00:36:21
Francis Wade
Until I did this program.
00:36:22
Francis Wade
And did a program in 1994 called the landmark forum.
00:36:26
Francis Wade
200 people in a room
00:36:29
Francis Wade
for a weekend and I saw something happen. I saw things happen faster than I thought wherever possible.
00:36:36
Francis Wade
for me
00:36:37
Francis Wade
and for the other people who were there why it wasn't because there was 1 person with all this wisdom know but it was 200 people who were talking to each other.
00:36:47
Francis Wade
about the same things
00:36:51
Francis Wade
And I saw more happening in my life in that weekend than I ever thought. I was way past anything that I imagine.
00:36:58
Francis Wade
It it it was inexplicable.
00:37:01
Francis Wade
And if you had asked me before in such a thing happened, I would say no.
00:37:05
Francis Wade
So there's something that's possible in a group especially in the immersive experience where you have access to other people.
00:37:11
Francis Wade
So our conferences are a bit different. We're not here to offer you just an opportunity to
00:37:17
Francis Wade
attend watch and disappear instead. We want you to join our online community talk to others talk to The Experts not only listen to them when they're expert in when they're presenting but talk to them in the community.
00:37:33
Francis Wade
But to be up for the entire entire conference experience. We also give access to 24 our content. So anyone from around the world can enjoy it.
00:37:41
Francis Wade
We also have live panels and interviews.
00:37:44
Francis Wade
But the point is we want to give you access or a way to find these insights that you can't find in a book or an MBA presented in a way that you can immediately use.
00:37:58
Francis Wade
So let's call it the fast way.
00:38:02
Francis Wade
So I can tell you from having.
00:38:04
Francis Wade
Looked for articles and speakers for the last couple years for our conference.
00:38:09
Francis Wade
In the area of game-changing long-term strategy, it's hard.
00:38:14
Francis Wade
Finding people is difficult.
00:38:17
Francis Wade
So you can go along the path that I I could even send you all the names of the hundred and something people that I'm I'm in conversation with.
00:38:25
Francis Wade
But like the paper that I mentioned.
00:38:29
Francis Wade
The insights are sort of in a book somewhere. You can't take an MBA course in game-changing long-term strategy not to my knowledge.
00:38:39
Francis Wade
at the moment the best way to find
00:38:42
Francis Wade
find information and to make progress and to make a difference and to add to long-term thinking in the planet is through other people.
00:38:52
Francis Wade
And other people who are attending and hearing from our experts in different ways and shapes.
00:38:58
Francis Wade
Is the method that I'm offering?
00:39:01
Francis Wade
You'd also hear from people like me who will talk about.
00:39:03
Francis Wade
Our method at framework that we use for long-term game-changing strategic planning. So the whole method
00:39:11
Francis Wade
believe it or not. I got this from chat GPT.
00:39:14
Francis Wade
It looks at where you are today, then your brainstorm projects and you delegate them to people.
00:39:23
Francis Wade
That way doesn't work.
00:39:26
Francis Wade
I want to offer you the endpoint method that we use and there'll be some unique opportunities during the conference to learn what these steps are all about.
00:39:35
Francis Wade
You actually start with a zero base or an empty blank canvas kind of like zero based budgeting.
00:39:41
Francis Wade
Create a snapshot of where the organization is now to talk about later, uh pick a Target year that's in your The Sweet Spot for your company and your industry.
00:39:51
Francis Wade
Create alternatives for that Target year.
00:39:55
Francis Wade
Pick a single alternative.
00:39:59
Francis Wade
That cast that.
00:40:00
Francis Wade
To today and then create a short-term strategy map, which is not the way.
00:40:06
Francis Wade
Kaplan or Norton really talked about using strategy mapping but we find it's more effective.
00:40:12
Francis Wade
So these details will be available. They're available right now at the dump newsletter, but
00:40:17
Francis Wade
you'll hear them in in way more accessible fashion when you take the conference. Okay, so back to the conference learning model.
00:40:25
Francis Wade
This is the 1 that I use when I I took that Landmark program you have an experience maybe 1 that's like a wow can't explain that. But oh my goodness.
00:40:35
Francis Wade
What an insight?
00:40:35
Francis Wade
Kind of insight that makes you see the world differently from that point on.
00:40:41
Francis Wade
The way after I read the strategy mapping article, I the world looked different from that point on and that's just that narrow area.
00:40:50
Francis Wade
Extract your learning from it.
00:40:53
Francis Wade
Test it for real.
00:40:55
Francis Wade
You know with an perhaps with yourself if you can with your own company or group apply it enough time so that you can then Rootin it or make it a part of what you do on a regular basis.
00:41:08
Francis Wade
and also a part of what you say to people when you believe that they should be doing long-term strategic planning and they aren't
00:41:14
Francis Wade
that now it becomes a part of your
00:41:17
Francis Wade
kind of the things that you see
00:41:20
Francis Wade
all right, so
00:41:21
Francis Wade
don't forget there's this whole business of leaving a question in the Q&A and I don't see any questions yet.
00:41:28
Francis Wade
So we're coming to the end of that first Secret.
00:41:31
Francis Wade
Um, but go ahead and drop a question in the Q&A. If you have a question based on what I've said anything that I've said so far.
00:41:39
Francis Wade
Um or deal if you've seen any questions in that just uh point me to them or give them to me. Um,
00:41:47
Francis Wade
But anyway, the good news is that the first company that I ever did a strategic plan planning retreat with.
00:41:53
Francis Wade
created a 25 year plan and
00:41:56
Francis Wade
they're doing pretty well.
00:41:58
Francis Wade
They're now A A A multi-national conglomerate came from just being uh company with basically 1 1 offering 1 1 offering in 1 country.
00:42:10
Francis Wade
Okay.
00:42:12
Francis Wade
so
00:42:14
Francis Wade
I'm not seeing a question.
00:42:18
Francis Wade
Um, don't forget that Q&A button. They will remind you as we go along.
00:42:25
Francis Wade
See the question that comments are related to what I said before.
00:42:30
Francis Wade
All right, let's move on to the next because you may have a you know a concern that.
00:42:36
Francis Wade
Me Francis me you want me to do?
00:42:39
Francis Wade
something to engage in like this whole
00:42:43
Francis Wade
change the world business.
00:42:45
Francis Wade
Or help my company to accomplish, uh some outstanding game-changing results.
00:42:51
Francis Wade
You want me to have a conversation with my CEO or my chairman?
00:42:55
Francis Wade
or the SE Suite
00:42:59
Francis Wade
Well, yeah.
00:42:59
Francis Wade
But fortunately there are some Frameworks that actually come naturally to us as planners that we can borrow from. We just need to think of them in a particular way. So I'm I'm going to suggest that we could use a storytelling framework and I'm going to come back to this.
00:43:16
Francis Wade
Set of steps.
00:43:16
Francis Wade
Because it actually fits right into what we do if you're in a strategic planning position or you've been around and you've done planning.
00:43:24
Francis Wade
I'm going to suggest that there is a way for you to position what you have to say so that it communicates and most people to action.
00:43:33
Francis Wade
So before I mentioned those storytelling storytelling framework.
00:43:38
Francis Wade
and um
00:43:41
Francis Wade
I learned storytelling the very hard way back in 2003 when I wrote a book called bills in perfect time management and venture.
00:43:49
Francis Wade
I knew nothing about writing stories.
00:43:52
Francis Wade
I learned by picking up books and listening. I don't think there were many many podcasts at the time about that subject.
00:44:01
Francis Wade
This was the slow way.
00:44:05
Francis Wade
It took me a long time.
00:44:07
Francis Wade
And these are great books.
00:44:10
Francis Wade
Dwight's win very old book
00:44:15
Francis Wade
But very very interesting about how to craft stories.
00:44:20
Francis Wade
and um Randy injure Marcin Ingram Manson
00:44:24
Francis Wade
Ingram Manson has a great newsletter on fiction writing.
00:44:28
Francis Wade
So the book that I wrote was a piece of fiction it had to do with productivity.
00:44:32
Francis Wade
And I knew as I said, I knew nothing about this fortunately today. There are better Frameworks and I want to share a couple of them with you.
00:44:41
Francis Wade
1 of them is that and but therefore framework.
00:44:45
Francis Wade
Now this 1 has made a tremendous difference in the way. I communicate partly because it's so easy to pick up.
00:44:53
Francis Wade
essentially it says
00:44:54
Francis Wade
we're here today. We have all our commitments to producing long-term game changing results.
00:45:01
Francis Wade
whereas smart people but
00:45:05
Francis Wade
so the ANS lead lead up to a butt butt butt.
00:45:09
Francis Wade
There are a number of people in powerful places in companies that
00:45:14
Francis Wade
believe in long-term thinking but don't actually do anything about it like make actual plans.
00:45:21
Francis Wade
therefore
00:45:24
Francis Wade
We could make a difference with them if we developed the right kinds of Storytelling skills.
00:45:30
Francis Wade
So I just used an but therefore in a simple construct now that construct I use every single place. I'm actually writing to
00:45:40
Francis Wade
share persuade convince
00:45:45
Francis Wade
Anywhere, I do any of those kinds of sale any kinds of activities regarding to regarding uh, changing or sharing people with people. What what what I where I would like a to go.
00:45:55
Francis Wade
What B hack I'm committed to.
00:45:58
Francis Wade
What I would like them to do in terms of making sacrificing in order to get there.
00:46:04
Francis Wade
So that's a great framework. The other 1 is called story brand.
00:46:07
Francis Wade
And it's a a template to fill out actually before you even start writing or even considering your message. It helps you to frame the background of your story figure out who the protagonist is. The villain is.
00:46:21
Francis Wade
um what the different uh stages are what the you know conflicts are
00:46:26
Francis Wade
All very useful now you might say but Francis I'm not I'm not interested in writing a novel.
00:46:32
Francis Wade
Well, I suspect however that you are interested in crafting game-changing long-term narratives.
00:46:41
Francis Wade
And not just have the world be filled with and all about problem solving episodes.
00:46:48
Francis Wade
So I'm going to say that those of us who are committed to the long term.
00:46:52
Francis Wade
Need to be great storytellers.
00:46:56
Francis Wade
And 1 with 1 reason is that we need to be in the game of sharing our vision with other people.
00:47:03
Francis Wade
you know having a long-term narrative that the Apple narrative has it all of its ups and downs they went from
00:47:11
Francis Wade
300 million dollars Revenue in
00:47:14
Francis Wade
1997
00:47:16
Francis Wade
1977 to 95 billion in 2021, and there's a heck of a narrative along the way with it ups and downs.
00:47:26
Francis Wade
and
00:47:28
Francis Wade
many having to do with the long-term Vision at Steve Jobs and others held.
00:47:33
Francis Wade
But more specifically between 2000 and 2001 and 2010.
00:47:40
Francis Wade
according to the book lead from the future by Johnson and susco which
00:47:45
Francis Wade
Steve Jobs and Company and his colleagues came up with a vision of an apple ecosystem.
00:47:53
Francis Wade
Now today we take it for granted that all of the Apple products.
00:47:54
Francis Wade
They don't all just work together, but they
00:47:58
Francis Wade
are part of an interdependent interlocking kind of
00:48:02
Francis Wade
functioning ecosystem
00:48:06
Francis Wade
So now you don't create an ecosystem that takes 10 years to develop.
00:48:10
Francis Wade
by following 3 year plans know according to the authors what they did was they sat in 2010 and said
00:48:18
Francis Wade
we need to stop selling our products. We need to sell an ecosystem.
00:48:22
Francis Wade
So I invite you to go and check this out and how it evolved and we we kind of know what the story is.
00:48:27
Francis Wade
it took them from
00:48:30
Francis Wade
5 million in Revenue to 255 million in Revenue somewhere there, but it was the Breakthrough that took Apple from being a computer company to being an ecosystem company.
00:48:42
Francis Wade
So that story.
00:48:45
Francis Wade
We can look back and say oh, yeah, we could see the story now after the fact.
00:48:49
Francis Wade
But long term strategic planning is about crafting these narratives.
00:48:54
Francis Wade
ahead of time
00:48:56
Francis Wade
and that's what separates it from Just mere problem solving.
00:49:01
Francis Wade
from solving session
00:49:09
Francis Wade
and they try to seek immediate resolution to issues that come up in the conversation.
00:49:16
Francis Wade
And I warned them early on and then I tell them halfway through that. No, we're not here to do that. No, no, no.
00:49:22
Francis Wade
We're not here to solve immediate problems.
00:49:25
Francis Wade
We're here to craft a future different kind of activity different kind of muscle.
00:49:30
Francis Wade
It requires a future back mindset as opposed to a present for mindset again from the book leading from the future from the authors that I mentioned before.
00:49:41
Francis Wade
A regular meetings you can go back to problem solving because it has its place.
00:49:45
Francis Wade
But creating and crafting a long-term narrative.
00:49:49
Francis Wade
Doesn't happen every week. It happens it's rare and maybe it happens every few years and there's a lot of emotions based.
00:49:58
Francis Wade
In that kind of planning.
00:50:03
Francis Wade
Go back to that framework I mentioned before.
00:50:07
Francis Wade
1 of the big changes that we made I'm going to share in a minute is to think of who our protagonist is in any story. We want to tell
00:50:15
Francis Wade
And who the villains are?
00:50:17
Francis Wade
What the problems are who the guides are?
00:50:22
Francis Wade
And then there's a bunch of steps.
00:50:22
Francis Wade
Steps to outline.
00:50:24
Francis Wade
Whenever you tell any story.
00:50:27
Francis Wade
Unfortunately for us as planners, we're already have an idea that in the long term. You need to be talking about narratives with numbers.
00:50:37
Francis Wade
So I'm not seeing that these don't have measurements they do.
00:50:40
Francis Wade
But really to have it have the emotional resonance that it needs we need to be storytellers of a long-term nature.
00:50:48
Francis Wade
So 1 way in which we've applied this in the last in the last few is uh in the creation of what we call the snapshot. So I mentioned the snapshot before and part of what we asked in the snapshot we used to ask is that
00:51:00
Francis Wade
um attendees come in and present their areas of expertise or what's happening in the company from their perspective like a financial perspective human resource perspective operations perspective. And from there. We would create the snapshot.
00:51:15
Francis Wade
And you know, they would show numbers like these and you know, we would kind of say oh, yeah. Look how bad things are. You really need to move forward and think about the future.
00:51:25
Francis Wade
Right, but the snapshot would be kind of like bad news.
00:51:30
Francis Wade
well
00:51:34
Francis Wade
A client of all said why do why is it just that? Why don't you tell us?
00:51:40
Francis Wade
Or give us a way to understand where we are and the snapshot became our way of doing that.
00:51:48
Francis Wade
And we Infuse the snapshot.
00:51:52
Francis Wade
or new version of the snapshot with storytelling in which
00:51:57
Francis Wade
the client is the protagonist.
00:52:01
Francis Wade
They have a history of what brought them to this point.
00:52:04
Francis Wade
Like apple it's filled with ups and downs.
00:52:08
Francis Wade
There were villains to overcome.
00:52:10
Francis Wade
There were internal struggles to get past.
00:52:15
Francis Wade
And to create a brand new future, it means accepting that you're the hero and you can now craft a brand new destination for your company.
00:52:27
Francis Wade
now in case you're saying okay, well that sounds that sounds pretty um, uh, uh, uh,
00:52:32
Francis Wade
idealistic ourselves empowering or affirming
00:52:36
Francis Wade
This is what we found just from our experience and this really came from you know, being in the field and doing what we do.
00:52:44
Francis Wade
Okay. So here's a question from tomorrow tomorrow. I think what does 1 get put it on the stage?
00:52:51
Francis Wade
Divisional managers with competing priorities to see the importance of value importance of value in reporting on departmental performance against the organization. So strategic objectives.
00:53:05
Francis Wade
great question tomorrow
00:53:06
Francis Wade
um
00:53:08
Francis Wade
in the moment, so there's 2 ways to think about this problem in the moment. There's the unwillingness for them to report.
00:53:14
Francis Wade
And that often comes because the future isn't present.
00:53:18
Francis Wade
So we recommend you actually taking steps to presence the future before meetings like this when
00:53:26
Francis Wade
In other words, they need to consider making a sacrifice.
00:53:30
Francis Wade
For the greater good. So if the greater good isn't present in the sense that you know, some companies they read their vision statement, but it's not just a plain old vision statement. It's a high quality vision statement and it takes them back to the Strategic plan and Retreat where they created their be hacks. So there's practices to engage in in those meetings where
00:53:51
Francis Wade
there are discussing competing priorities.
00:53:53
Francis Wade
In other words, you're looking to change the context of the conversation around priorities.
00:54:00
Francis Wade
And then the second bit.
00:54:00
Francis Wade
planning retreat
00:54:05
Francis Wade
and interesting thing happens things happen when folks get together and commit.
00:54:10
Francis Wade
As a team of 20 people to big things.
00:54:14
Francis Wade
Things start to move and things start to change.
00:54:17
Francis Wade
Okay, and I can only say that they come away with a whole different kind of commitment.
00:54:22
Francis Wade
That's not about them not about their department, but it's about the company.
00:54:27
Francis Wade
Some 10 20 30 years in the future. It's interesting. What happens when you go 20 20 30 year in the future years in the future.
00:54:35
Francis Wade
You start to not care as much about trying to hold on to your budget this year.
00:54:40
Francis Wade
Because essentially you're asking them to change context and to commit to something that's much bigger.
00:54:47
Francis Wade
Now I'm not going to tell you that that's easy. But that's what we're having a conference, right? All right, so here's a third and final Secret.
00:54:53
Francis Wade
How do you help CEOs think differently?
00:54:57
Francis Wade
How do you go after the Big Kahuna?
00:54:60
Francis Wade
Without pressuring them to become defensive.
00:55:04
Francis Wade
So I'm going to offer you something a little bit different than maybe you might think off the wall.
00:55:09
Francis Wade
but
00:55:12
Francis Wade
sometimes
00:55:13
Francis Wade
there's a board.
00:55:16
Francis Wade
Or there is a board. There are board members.
00:55:17
Francis Wade
We're not being engaged in strategy in the long-term future of the company.
00:55:24
Francis Wade
So we've had a lot of success.
00:55:26
Francis Wade
Just asking questions, like should the board be involved in this?
00:55:30
Francis Wade
And getting back a little bit of a kind of a blank blank look.
00:55:36
Francis Wade
because in many companies
00:55:38
Francis Wade
boards are not engaged in long-term strategy.
00:55:43
Francis Wade
There are even engaged in long-term goals.
00:55:46
Francis Wade
They're more about the compliance.
00:55:49
Francis Wade
So the Third Secret is to learn about boards and let me let me come back to this 1 as well.
00:55:56
Francis Wade
Here's a couple of Statistics that demonstrate what I'm talking about. So McKenzie has shown that
00:56:03
Francis Wade
companies
00:56:05
Francis Wade
are twice that that outperform for which outperformed spend twice as much time as their on strategy as their average peers.
00:56:15
Francis Wade
So these are boards we're talking about.
00:56:19
Francis Wade
board members
00:56:23
Francis Wade
34% of directors believe that the boards they serve on only 34% understand their company's strategies and I think that's very generous.
00:56:32
Francis Wade
we have seen instead is that
00:56:36
Francis Wade
In this particular case a company that we worked with.
00:56:40
Francis Wade
They developed that thought short-term strategy that we've talked about before they presented to the board and the board said.
00:56:46
Francis Wade
We want more.
00:56:47
Francis Wade
so we're tired of you bringing these short-term issues for us to talk about
00:56:52
Francis Wade
and they listed off a bunch of the same short-term problems that the board seemed to be talking about every meeting and every time we're talking about this thing and that thing and it's all
00:57:01
Francis Wade
stuff that could be done in a in a short space of time.
00:57:05
Francis Wade
But we're here to do big things. What's the big thing that you're coming to ask us to give you permission to do?
00:57:14
Francis Wade
No, that's not not saying that the entire board says that all in 1 in unison.
00:57:21
Francis Wade
It was more like a a grumbling that I heard across the room during the meeting.
00:57:26
Francis Wade
But there are board members.
00:57:29
Francis Wade
Who join boards with the expectation that I'm here?
00:57:33
Francis Wade
To contribute to long-term thinking long term goals long term strategy and I'm best used when I'm engaged in that kind of activity.
00:57:47
Francis Wade
Compliance. Yeah, but because that's necessary but
00:57:50
Francis Wade
That's all I'm here for, you know, it's not all of that. It's not all of that.
00:57:56
Francis Wade
fulfilling right
00:57:58
Francis Wade
So in another strategic planning Retreat actually the very first 1 that I ever LED that I mentioned before we were in the clients living room.
00:58:05
Francis Wade
And she had we had a flip chart and we were writing on the flip chart and we came up with a 25 year to plan as I mentioned.
00:58:12
Francis Wade
And she said the college chairman and I was like why?
00:58:18
Francis Wade
We have to get to involved in this so as the future started to unfold as she started to define it.
00:58:23
Francis Wade
She called the poor fellow.
00:58:26
Francis Wade
All the fellow from wherever he was in the world and he dropped whatever he did and came over and within an hour, he was a part of the The Retreat and this is just the 2 of us.
00:58:36
Francis Wade
Don't do that do it that way any longer, but this was at the time.
00:58:40
Francis Wade
She also called her second in command and he came over as well.
00:58:43
Francis Wade
And then it became a z planning meeting in which all were engaged and it turns out they never talked about.
00:58:52
Francis Wade
What to do in the future they never talked about beehives in this way.
00:58:59
Francis Wade
Just hadn't been a topic of conversation. Even though these were really smart people really committed and loved their customers and loved the building the the the business they were in.
00:59:08
Francis Wade
so it takes something to craft this kind of conversation and to tap into
00:59:12
Francis Wade
if you're familiar with the jobs to be done structure.
00:59:15
Francis Wade
That every board member as I mentioned joins a board.
00:59:20
Francis Wade
And they having back of their mind a job. They want to get done.
00:59:24
Francis Wade
Unfortunately, it's not they're usually not asked.
00:59:28
Francis Wade
That way by the way, I noticed that it's 12:30 and I'll be done in a couple couple more minutes.
00:59:34
Francis Wade
Every board member joins with a job that they want to get done and the way to get it done is to think and anticipate what that job is going to be.
00:59:43
Francis Wade
Done that job to be done might be that already exists inside of them that you could tap into.
00:59:50
Francis Wade
Remember we're talking about convincing the CEO.
00:59:54
Francis Wade
So you may not be able to convince the CEO directly?
00:59:57
Francis Wade
but you may be able to
00:59:60
Francis Wade
get bored and board members.
01:00:03
Francis Wade
Moving as 1 with respect to what they want to see.
01:00:09
Francis Wade
Okay, so
01:00:12
Francis Wade
I'm going to skip over this question in the interest of time. There are the code acts the blackberries. There's the the Blockbuster over the world which did not engage in strategic plan long-term strategic planning.
01:00:22
Francis Wade
So we started off by saying that there are some things that are beyond the butt and we're out to in the next.
01:00:29
Francis Wade
webinar 2 webinars and Conference answer these questions around the butt
01:00:35
Francis Wade
and um, so
01:00:38
Francis Wade
with a few minutes that we have left. Are you ready to hear the best way to learn some more some details about learning opportunities we have coming up. Could you put a A in the chat if you're ready to hear that?
01:00:52
Francis Wade
There's a question and I'll I'll answer the question as well. But drop a yes in the chat while I deal with the question. How do you introduce risk assessment associated with a lack?
01:00:60
Francis Wade
of
01:01:02
Francis Wade
long-term strategies or is that fair? Based? Not at all?
01:01:06
Francis Wade
So the way that we do that is in a retreat is by doing a pre-mortem based on the ideals in the Strategic plan.
01:01:15
Francis Wade
Now that's easier to do than do it in the abstract because everyone at that point sees the value of the strategy they've put together. So the question is an easier 1 to answer.
01:01:29
Francis Wade
uh, however
01:01:29
Francis Wade
Just talking about the risk of a long-term strategy and I've talked with some risk assessment folks is more difficult to do. Um
01:01:38
Francis Wade
I Look to Industry examples, um, I can get pretty creative if you have to do it, but it's easier easier said easier done in a retreat than it is.
01:01:51
Francis Wade
When you're actually doing the planning then it is outside when it's just a a theory or something. Someone has has never seen many folks have never ever even seen a strategic that goes for longer than the 5 years that they're used to. Okay, you're ready to hear some more. All right. So here's what we have.
01:02:09
Francis Wade
Following today's webinar. They'll be a webinar on May 16th.
01:02:13
Francis Wade
Which will address companies that don't have a long-term future.
01:02:18
Francis Wade
now they may have a
01:02:20
Francis Wade
paragraph or vision statement. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about.
01:02:24
Francis Wade
Something that has a a year on it and is has details about that destination.
01:02:32
Francis Wade
On June 6th, we'll talk about how about those companies that do have these beehives this Vision already set up.
01:02:40
Francis Wade
But they don't have any glue.
01:02:42
Francis Wade
They just build it and they will come they don't have any strategy in between.
01:02:46
Francis Wade
There's nothing except you guys go work on this.
01:02:50
Francis Wade
And then finally, we'll be rounding it out with our conference coming up in June and today I want to tell you some more about the conference.
01:02:59
Francis Wade
You know what? It's going to be focusing on its going to have some of the best thinkers that we've found in the world.
01:03:06
Francis Wade
on this topic All In 1 place, I believe it's for the first time because I've not seen anything like this before or even heard of it could be wrong, but
01:03:15
Francis Wade
we come at this from a point of view that this is a strategic.
01:03:19
Francis Wade
game-changing Focus it's different from the focus that you might find in for example, um forecasting or for sighting or the futurists come from
01:03:31
Francis Wade
we're really coming from a practical result and working our way back.
01:03:37
Francis Wade
GMT minus 5 UCT minus 5
01:03:58
Francis Wade
so I encourage you if you're serious about
01:04:03
Francis Wade
making a difference in the way that I have described that you get a full ticket. Now among the things that you'll get with your full ticket is access to all the videos all the replays live and pre-recorded.
01:04:15
Francis Wade
For at least a year.
01:04:17
Francis Wade
And the cost of that is $79.
01:04:24
Francis Wade
We also have a visitor's path available. It's not the same you can imagine as the full ticket once the conference is over. That's it.
01:04:35
Francis Wade
And you probably won't have access to all you will not have access to all of the content that a full ticket gives you during the conference as well.
01:04:44
Francis Wade
But it does give you a sense or a taste of what the conference is all about.
01:04:51
Francis Wade
And today if you already registered you will get
01:04:54
Francis Wade
use this code.
01:04:57
Francis Wade
now the reg the the the the the discount I went to look at it and it's about
01:05:02
Francis Wade
it's about half off but
01:05:07
Francis Wade
It depends on where you are in the world.
01:05:09
Francis Wade
In here in Jamaica, we it's a little bit less because it's using what's called parity pricing the price depends on where you are in the world.
01:05:18
Francis Wade
So it's about a 50% discount thereabouts.
01:05:21
Francis Wade
Okay, so I invite you to to put yourself in at this point and start accessing some of the
01:05:28
Francis Wade
so the content from the prior years.
01:05:31
Francis Wade
Because we'll give you access to the sustainability strategy conference which we held in 2000 2023.
01:05:39
Francis Wade
So
01:05:40
Francis Wade
deal, could you drop the drop the the link with the call to action?
01:05:45
Francis Wade
And I mentioned before that there would be a giveaway.
01:05:48
Francis Wade
and let's put that
01:05:52
Francis Wade
put your memory to
01:05:54
Francis Wade
the test. Let's see.
01:05:58
Francis Wade
Okay, there is a a link that you could use to register in the conference right away.
01:06:04
Francis Wade
But there's a question in the chat.
01:06:06
Francis Wade
So let's find that question.
01:06:13
Francis Wade
Secret 3 Tammy all around stay around for a few minutes afterwards and I'll I'll put secret 3 back up on the the screen.
01:06:23
Francis Wade
Uh, no problem. I'll I'll reshare that by the way, there will be a replay the replays are available at this location on this URL after this webinar is over.
01:06:31
Francis Wade
Okay. So here's the question first answer correct answer in the chat.
01:06:36
Francis Wade
What are the names of 2 books I mentioned today?
01:06:40
Francis Wade
first person to put 2 correct answers
01:06:44
Francis Wade
in the chat
01:06:48
Francis Wade
Sharon Qatar has asked. What is the early bird window?
01:06:52
Francis Wade
shine we have an completely decided yet, but
01:06:57
Francis Wade
Okay, Chris, Chris know there's not a book called balanced score card that I mentioned.
01:07:03
Francis Wade
But tomorrow may says return to love and awake in the Jack within so tomorrow is the winner. So are you asked me the question as well? Yes you did about the
01:07:11
Francis Wade
About the great so you've won.
01:07:14
Francis Wade
you won so
01:07:16
Francis Wade
Congratulations, and thanks everyone. Um, let's see what else I have. So the next time that I'll see you we'll be at the Met 16th webinar again, we will focusing on companies that don't have a long-term Vision many of those are private sector.
01:07:34
Francis Wade
private companies publicly shared companies, um for-profit companies
01:07:39
Francis Wade
many of them fall into that bucket if not most
01:07:43
Francis Wade
so folks I'd like for you to I'd like to thank you for being here and I'm going to put the recording on pause and
01:07:51
Francis Wade
Thank you for your engagement. You've been extremely engaged which I enjoy, and we love and on behalf of my co-host and I wish you all the best until next time M. Put this date in your calendar, and we'll see you on May 16th.