The Field of the Strategist (II) [PODCAST S2 E7]

This episode of the podcast further explores the field of the strategist. Continuing our exploration into the field’s outermost circle, we discuss four major forces in the field. Using several examples of these forces, we understand how the field is not only a source of huge threats but also a source of significant opportunities.

The Four Additional forces

We explore how legal forces, physical environmental forces, technological forces and social forces create a mosaic for the strategist in action.

How the Strategist Deals with the field

This episode also explains how the strategist deals with the field especially when facing such enormous forces that are out of control of any firm. In this episode I use the famous lines from Julius Caesar to explain how the strategist sees the forces in the field:

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures. 

The Field and Strategy

The field offers the strategist some of the raw materials to be used in strategy design. The episode also makes clear that although the field is conceptualized in categories, in reality, it is a mosaic of forces pulsating over a time horizon of the strategist.

Key Takeaways

The key takeaways from this episode are as follows:

1. How do social, technological, legal, and environmental forces affect the field?
2. What are some examples of each of the above force in action
3. How does the strategist look at the forces in the field and what can you learn from this viewpoint?

How to Listen?

This audio is now available as a part of a complete online strategy program called Becoming a Strategist. You can listen to it in the course here