Strategizing Around a Toxic Culture

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You are leading the development of a strategic plan in an organization. The company has a very transactional culture in which staff members are doing the minimum required to get by.

However, the company needs to develop a game-changing strategic plan to stay relevant in its industry. You are concerned that staff members don’t care about the future of the organization, but their buy-in is essential.

How can you get them interested in a shared future vision for the organization, beyond a mere paycheck or bonus?

Tune into this episode to hear from me and my special guest, Debilyn Molineaux, as we tackle this wicked problem together.

I’m Francis Wade and welcome to the JumpLeap Long-Term Strategy Podcast

Debilyn Molineaux serves as the catalyst for the American Future project to help everyday Americans discover and believe in a future that will be “worth it” to work together for the sake of our nation. Debilyn is a serial entrepreneur, co-founding many organizations and transpartisan projects over her 20+ year career in establishing the democracy ecosystem.

Here’s a 20-minute video excerpt.

To watch the full video, see below, under the paywall for subscribers.

Ep 27 – Missing Insights | How to Find Breakthrough Strategies in the C-Suite

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You are convinced that your company or client needs a game-changing strategy. But you have also worked with them to see that their thinking is pedestrian. Ordinary. Run of the mill. Business as usual.

You realise that one element which is lacking is a set of powerful insights. Without them, you’ll always be stuck no matter how well they do at implementation.

And if a competitor comes along, like Deep Seek, you’ll be disrupted.

Tune into this episode to join me in tackling this wicked problem.

And here’s a resource I mentioned for scanning future trends:

https://www.futuresplatform.com/

Here is the complimentary video excerpt for free subscribers. The full video is behind the paywall below.

Ep 26 – Seth Godin – Stuck in Stale Strategy? Seeing Systems Holding You Back

Your company is built on systems – a whole bunch of systems which are intertwined.

Understanding how they work together is critical for any strategic changes you want to make.

However, you have also seen system diagrams. They look awful, with too much detail, and don’t capture the essence of what happens at any level of the organization. Plus, they take forever to build.

So you know you need to have this knowledge but how do you begin to grab hold of it so you can use it in your strategy? Where is the practical application?

Tune into this episode to hear from me and my special guest, Seth Godin, as we tackle and even try to solve this wicked problem together.

Plus – if you enjoy Seth’s work in this area, here’s a new experiment. I opened up a NotebookLM-like page on Cobundle – https://strategyconf.fwconsulting.com/resources-ep-26-with-seth-godin-strategy-and-systems/.

YouTube Chapters

0:00 – Introduction: Why Systems Thinking Matters

2:00 – The Invisible Systems That Control Your Decisions

5:00 – The Danger of Ignoring Systemic Change (Yahoo vs. Google)

9:00 – How Companies Get Stuck in Old Ways of Thinking

12:00 – Walmart’s Smart Decision to Delay Competing with Amazon

16:00 – Why Traditional Strategy Tools Are Failing You 20:00 – How to Help Leaders See Their Own System Blind Spots

25:00 – The Power of Storytelling in Strategy

31:00 – The Role of Emotion in Driving Change

37:00 – Breaking Free: How to Build Strategy That Actually Works

41:00 – Final Insights & How to Apply This to Your Work

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Ep 25 – Drowning in Data | How AI Can Rescue Strategy

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You are a facilitator or sponsor of strategic planning offsites. Recently, you noticed that it’s become easier than ever to gather pages of interesting and pertinent information about client companies. You’re pleased…this is a far cry from the days when you were forced to walk in empty-handed because the company had nothing to offer you.

But now you have a new problem. The best clients are collecting a ton of information, and providing it to you in buckets. You want to go through all of it but with limited time and resources, you can’t.

You don’t want to fake it until you make it…but what else can you do?

Tune into this episode to hear from me and my special guest, Dan Bruder, as we solve this wicked problem together.

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Ep 24 Employees Want In! | How AI Fixes the Participation Gap w Dan Bruder

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Your company is committed to engaging staff in implementing the next strategic plan. Like most, you realize that their involvement is important.

But the company is big…large enough that you can’t talk to everyone. Not effectively. But you’d like to give each person a chance to contribute. And be heard.

How can you pull off this seemingly impossible feat? And how can you do so…at scale?

Tune into this episode to hear from me and my special guest, Dan Bruder, as we solve this wicked problem together. We’ll look at the ways AI can be used to drive employee engagement at scale.

To watch or hear the full episode, join JumpLeap as a subscriber. This supports the work I’m doing on long-term strategic planning. It appears below the Subscribe signup box.

Afraid to Be Lofty? | Expand, Then Compress Your Strategy

A turbulent world demands game-changing strategies. Companies must stand out, yet executives quickly discover that setting exaggerated goals has its limits. How can you inspire staff and board members with ambitious aspirations while maintaining credibility?

Case in Point: You anticipate breakthroughs during strategic planning retreats. Instead, you’re met with the same old ideas. Why? Tentative thinking holds everyone back.

You want your team to think in lofty, inspirational terms. But motivating bold action in just a few hours is a tough challenge. Even when the business urgently needs leadership, making courageous moves is easier said than done.

You wonder, “Is there a way to escape the extremes?” Can you encourage big thinking without retraining your senior team? Try the strategy compression technique.

Establish Equity with Ground Rules

Imagine this: A CEO interrupts a retreat to make a surprise announcement. After much deliberation, he’s decided on the “perfect” targets and timelines. Cutting the discussion short, he commands, “Focus on how we get there.”

At first glance, it seems efficient. In reality, it’s bullying.

By hijacking the process, the CEO forces colleagues into a subordinate role, stripping them of their ability to make meaningful decisions. To prevent this, establish ground rules that ensure equity during the retreat.

These rules should define how discussions are conducted and decisions made. Include pre-defined steps to address rule violations.

A CEO should recognize their unique role. They think about strategy daily, unlike others who need more time to shift into strategic thinking. Patience is key.

Overcoming Old-Style Thinking

Many executive teams lack experience with effective game-changing strategic planning. Yet, they’re all too familiar with the pitfalls of lofty goals—and the ridicule that follows when aspirations seem unrealistic.

This fear prompts leaders to think small, focusing on three-to-five-year horizons. During retreats, this mindset stunts ideation, limiting creativity. Instead of seizing opportunities for bold, pre-emptive thinking, they settle for mundane logic and uninspiring goals.

What’s the cost?

Look at Blackberry, Nokia, and Ericsson. They once dominated the mobile phone market but lost their edge due to overly cautious thinking. Despite vast resources, these companies fell into comfortable ruts, leading to their decline.

To change expectations, inform your team that they’ll be engaging in game-changing, pre-emptive planning. Then, introduce the Expand-Compress Technique.

The Expand-Compress Technique

Once you’ve set the right tone, choose a target year 15-30 years in the future. A horizon like 2050 forces the team to move beyond business-as-usual thinking.

Start by brainstorming a range of desired outcomes that collectively form a breakthrough vision for that year.

Next comes the magic: creating milestones from the present to 2050. These should be realistic. How? Backcast from the future to the present, and develop mini-plans to achieve these milestones. The result is a “Merlin Chart.”

Now, take a collective pause. Ask, “How can this chart be compressed?”

This is a delicate step. Why?

If a CEO pushes too hard, the plan becomes unrealistic, breaking the cause-and-effect logic of the Merlin Chart. However, a cohesive team can challenge assumptions from various perspectives—finance, operations, marketing, etc. The chart belongs to everyone.

Compression isn’t about being reckless. It requires rigor to avoid unrealistic goals. The aim is to stretch the model without breaking it.

When done right, every participant can stand behind the compressed Merlin Chart. By negotiating timelines and trade-offs openly, the resulting strategy becomes a shared vision. This ownership significantly boosts the likelihood of successful implementation.

The Result

While contentious, the compression process allows you to aim for lofty aspirations. By blending bold vision with careful planning, you can inspire your team to reach new heights.

Ep 23 – Conflicting Visions – the Invisible Threat that Unites Goals

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Why You Should Listen to This Episode of the Jump Leap Long-Term Strategy Podcast

Picture this: you’re in the middle of a critical strategic planning retreat. Your team has crafted bold visions for the future, but now comes the toughest part—choosing the path forward. Limited resources, competing priorities, and mounting pressure make every option feel like a gamble.

In this episode of the Jump Leap Long-Term Strategy Podcast, host Francis Wade and special guest Dr. Peter Compo, author of The Emergent Approach to Strategy, tackle this exact dilemma. Together, they break down the messy realities of decision-making in high-stakes environments, offering practical tools and transformative insights.

Here’s what you’ll gain:

* Actionable Frameworks – Learn why most strategies fail and how Peter’s “Strategy Matrix” can help you evaluate options effectively.

* Real-World Lessons – Dive into examples, like the fictional Arturo’s challenge, to see how disciplined decision-making can overcome bottlenecks.

* The Jazz Analogy – Discover how the improvisation of jazz mirrors the blend of structure and creativity needed in strategy.

This episode isn’t just about theory. It’s about equipping leaders with the tools to navigate complexity, make bold choices, and design strategies that inspire and deliver results.

Whether you’re a CEO, facilitator, or team leader, you’ll leave with a clear understanding of how to tackle the toughest strategic decisions. Tune in and learn how discipline, creativity, and trust can transform your approach to planning.

Click play and take the first step toward game-changing strategy.

The episode draws heavily on Peter Compo’s book The Emergent Approach to Strategy.

To watch the full episode, join JumpLeap as a subscriber. This supports the work I’m doing on long-term strategic planning. It appears below the Subscribe signup box.

Ep 13.5 How to Add 25 Years to Your Strategic Plan in 4 Extra Hours

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Beware: there are some fundamental misunderstandings being passed around about long-term strategic planning which make it seem impractical.

The impact on the C-Suite? Disagreements. Misalignment. And executives who forego long-term planning because “it takes too much time.”

Recently overheard: “I can’t argue with the importance of long-term planning. But…

Ep 13 – How to Convince Colleagues Your Company Needs a Long-Term Vision-Strategy

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com

You are someone who is already a long-term thinker, working in a for-profit company. Unlike many, you don’t need to be convinced about the importance of long-term thinking. Somewhere early in the past – childhood, early career – you embedded the idea in your thinking. Now balancing short and long-term thinking is a part of your character.

But this may be why you are confused. Others around you don’t share this trait. In fact, you feel like a fish out of water – always harping on the need for long-term thinking, sometimes asking inconvenient questions.

You can’t understand why others don’t share your concern. And it’s not that you are particularly ESG, sustainable or anything like. Nor do you come from an old-school. You sense that the company would make better decisions if it had more than the usual 3-5-year plan.

But how do you convince others in the C-Suite, and the board, to think with an additional lens? 

Tune into this episode as I tackle this wicked problem.

If you prefer to view the free video version of this podcast, click here.

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Unraveling Strategy Amnesia

Have you ever left a strategic planning retreat feeling invigorated, only to find that the excitement fizzles out? Despite the initial enthusiasm and belief in the positive change that was about to ensue, weeks later, the essence of those profound discussions becomes a distant memory.

The baffling reality is this: a gathering of bright, dedicated individuals, all ardently striving to make a meaningful difference, encountered an unexpected descent post-retreat. The perplexity of this decline seemed insurmountable, leaving one pondering what went awry. <more>

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