Ed Morrison: Why Strategic Doing Beats Strategic Planning
My guest today is Ed Morrison. Ed directs the Agile Strategy Lab at Purdue University. For the past 25 years, he’s worked on a new approach to developing strategies to address complex challenges. His methodology is called “strategic doing,” and it emphasizes the strategic value of collaboration. Ed brings a refreshing approach to strategy creation. He defines an effective strategy as "a process of shared learning that has open participation and leadership guidance.” If you are looking for an effective way to address any complex business challenge, you will definitely benefit from listening to this episode and reading Ed’s book, Strategic Doing. Episode Highlights In this interview, Ed and I discuss: The value of practice and discipline versus skimming the surface of things The need to slow down before going fast The benefits of creating a safe space for deep, focused conversations How power and hierarchy can stand in the way of collaboration What adaptive challenges are and why they require a platform where people can come together as equals to solve them How to frame a strategic conversation around opportunities rather than problems and what is the structure of framing questions The value of engaging people around what an ideal solution would look like The importance of thinking about what company you want to pass on to the next generations Culture as a set pattern of thinking, behaving and doing