41 min

2. Your PowerPoint Deck Is Not a Strategy At Work with The Ready

    • Management

It's January! New beginnings? Ambitious plans? Giant commitments to change? They’re on everyone’s mind. Companies included—since now’s the time when glossy PowerPoint decks are so eagerly rolled out. And those PowerPoints? They’re always brimming with promise for the year ahead.
But there's a glaring disconnect between those slides (all 73 of them) and eventual success we often don’t address. Because how frequently do those meticulously crafted plans pan out? Does the new agenda account for the day-to-day running of the company? Is the plan flexible enough to handle economic curveballs? (We remember 2020, right?)
The reality is that “traditional strategy” often resembles New Year's resolutions; they’re imbued with good intentions but ultimately destined for disappointment.
In this episode of "At Work with The Ready," (new year, new podcast name!) co-hosts Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore our deep-rooted conditioning toward conventional planning methods (despite their shortcomings), share what a more complexity conscious approach to strategy looks like, and give you moves to start busting up the annual cycles of frustration, stagnancy, and finger-pointing.

Mentioned references:

"Getting Things Done and David Allen": Brave New Work Ep. 39 with David Allen


"90% of leaders admit strategies fail based on implementation": Closing The Gap: Designing and Delivering a Strategy That Works - The Economist's Intelligence Unit

Essential Intent


Japanese pancakes, straight from Sam's Instagram algorithm

Even/overs: Brave New Work Ep. 44


Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)

Looping

Red Teaming

"Scenario planning": Brave New Work Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly


Adjacent possible

Op rhythm

"mango sorbet": Brave New Work Ep. 163 Check-In Round



Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com
Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter.
We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com
Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

It's January! New beginnings? Ambitious plans? Giant commitments to change? They’re on everyone’s mind. Companies included—since now’s the time when glossy PowerPoint decks are so eagerly rolled out. And those PowerPoints? They’re always brimming with promise for the year ahead.
But there's a glaring disconnect between those slides (all 73 of them) and eventual success we often don’t address. Because how frequently do those meticulously crafted plans pan out? Does the new agenda account for the day-to-day running of the company? Is the plan flexible enough to handle economic curveballs? (We remember 2020, right?)
The reality is that “traditional strategy” often resembles New Year's resolutions; they’re imbued with good intentions but ultimately destined for disappointment.
In this episode of "At Work with The Ready," (new year, new podcast name!) co-hosts Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore our deep-rooted conditioning toward conventional planning methods (despite their shortcomings), share what a more complexity conscious approach to strategy looks like, and give you moves to start busting up the annual cycles of frustration, stagnancy, and finger-pointing.

Mentioned references:

"Getting Things Done and David Allen": Brave New Work Ep. 39 with David Allen


"90% of leaders admit strategies fail based on implementation": Closing The Gap: Designing and Delivering a Strategy That Works - The Economist's Intelligence Unit

Essential Intent


Japanese pancakes, straight from Sam's Instagram algorithm

Even/overs: Brave New Work Ep. 44


Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)

Looping

Red Teaming

"Scenario planning": Brave New Work Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly


Adjacent possible

Op rhythm

"mango sorbet": Brave New Work Ep. 163 Check-In Round



Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com
Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter.
We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com
Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

41 min