Big moves and big bets

Boxing the air does not win matches or break any records. Pursuing shadows will not suddenly manifest the light. Purposeless actions result in unnecessary burdening of people and systems.

RUNNING fast and aimlessly does not atone for lack of direction. Shuffling feet, papers and binders is not strategic planning. Ticking boxes does not necessarily make the business tick. Meaningless compliance just multiplies sorrow without having any real work being done. Merely drawing rings is not strategic execution or artistic expression. Strategy is not a me-too activity. It is more than just nicely bound documents that are placed in a neat file and then forgotten, until requested towards the annual or five-year ritual.

Playing self-deception games in the name of strategy is not thinking strategically or acting wisely. Strategy is about movement. It is making shifts towards a crystallised big idea and creating and sharing a living a story.

If your strategy process does not help you move with clarity, focus and direction, then it is not a strategy but a discussion. Mere talk without movement leads to disappointment. Yet, mere movement without purpose and direction leads to inevitable frustration.

A facilitator who just accompanies trite conversations that do not stimulate movement is a waste. Participating in initiatives that appear to be developing strategies, yet knowing fully well that you are not willing to move a finger to make the strategy happen moves everyone back. Pretending to be moving will not move anything worthwhile forward.

Nothing in life is ever stationary but not all movement is productive or necessary. Strategy makes movement intentional and focuses effort and momentum. Be strategic and move things, yourself and the mission. Commit to taking action and keeping at it until you reach your set big and daring goal.

Refuse to stand still in the highway pursuing routines. Strategy means moving strategically and intentionally. Your first strategic move must be to invest time in creating a strategy to guide your movement, defining your priorities and shifting your resources.

Move strategically from where you are

Look around you, break the inertia, make big visionary moves. This is strategy, making movements and shifts that deliver a desired future. Strategy is a battle for the future and not just merely preserving the unbearable present. Look closely at where you are, read clearly where you must go, define boldly what you need to address.

This is playing the game of strategy. Look at where you are and where you have been and appraise your positioning without ego-based defences and victim-minded excuses. If you do not like where you are, it is time for you to #move. If you have been on a stand still, it is time to make bold strategic moves. Strategy development and execution is about big moves. How will you move from where you are today to where you need to be tomorrow? What will be the next station and how will you get there?

Strategy is being seized with a vision of the future that is larger than the present. It is being obsessed with a magnificent, yet feasible future, because this is where you will be living soon. Strategy is moving towards a better alternative of the future.

If you do not move you are left behind and if you move without strategy you are left even further behind and you are shocked about the future. If you are not moving you cause an idea traffic jam. Where you are is never your destination. Strategic reach raises the bar for your faith and the head room for your dreams even if no one may come with flowers for you. Strategy keeps you moving and making vision-inspired progress.

Move in a strategic direction

It is not enough to move, what is most important is the direction in which you are moving. Moving for the sake of movement makes you a busy body. Strategy allows you to look at the various possible direction you might choose and then select the best possible path. Strategy allows you to define the vital few steps that you can take. It allows you to define the sequence of those steps and where you will play. Strategy allows you to define what you will do and what you will not do. You will not be able to do everything but you can do something vital and significant. Strategy allows you to define your economic logic and the difference that it will bring. If you cannot do things differently, then do different things.

Move with a strategic partner

You can do a lot, but you cannot do everything alone. You can use help if you are clear about what you want and your values are aligned. Strategy is about finding partners with whom to move forward and forge ahead. Strategy is more than just relationships of convenience that do not give regard to competencies.

Strategy is moving with worthy partners of visionary progress. Partner with those who see a bigger future, they will expand your strategic horizons. Partner with those who are strong, they will inspire courage in your heart. Partner with those who are strategic, they will have little time for petty squabbles.

Partner with the great and you will realise that you too can become great. Partner with those with faith, they will make you believe that all things are possible to him that believes. Those you work with help you do work that you may never have done on your own. Strategy is about choosing who to partner with and how you could achieve worthy and significant goals. This requires taking big moves and making big bets.

Move significantly

Strategy is about making big moves in pursuit of big ambitions. Dreaming small makes you park in the past. Fuzzy visions make you pursue greatness with fading maps. You cannot play in the significant leagues thinking like an ant and obsessed with personal significance. Strategy defines the big and bold moves to take. Half-hearted and hesitant moves result in false starts and hesitant actions.

Significant achievers are born out of significant strategies. Strategy enables you to do significant things that matter. What matters most must never be sacrificed at the altar of personal ambition. The mission is always greater than an individual. The scale of your ambitions determine the big moves that are informed by your strategy. Think big, because small dreams leave you playing small and sacrificing the future. Look within, because you have more resources that you think.

To think big or think small, you use the same resources but define different strategies. Strategy moves beyond the fears of the past. Strategy fuels big moves and ambitions with scale. Those who do not see the future are content with the exploits of the past and the squabbles of the present.

Uncertainty and risk will always be there. Strategy is about committing to a path and taking a big bets without betting on the organisation. Commit to a path leading to a bold and exciting future. Vision is more than comic book fantasies.

Strategy is more than playful musings. Strategic moves must move you if you are strategic. Make a bold move that create greatness. Strategies that tolerate mediocrity do not deliver greatness. Small actions taken timidly cannot be reckoned as strategy. Every day routine actions cannot be said to be strategy. Move in significant ways in pursuit of great strategic goals.

Move towards some capabilities

Strategy is a move to strengthen and develop capabilities that enable you to win in the areas where you are taking big bets. Become strong in what matters so that you can move in ways that matter. Build strength, capacity and capability.

Strategy is about transformation and elevation more than just maintenance. Building strategic capabilities is about creating compelling stories. Tired narratives are not strategic issues. Strategy calls for effective, visionary and bold leadership.

It is about driving innovation and delivery of large scale growth. Playing catch up games is a game of pursuing the shadows of others. Strategy executions are concerned with results, not mere covering of incompetencies.

Strategy is about going beyond excuses and finding a way where others see only impossibilities. Strategy feeds on opportunities that are disguised as big and wicked problems. When leaders see problems, they get excited. Leadership with strategy is exploitative. Strategy without leadership is a fallacy. Strategic leaders will always be in demand. Are you one of them? Step out in the arena and be counted. Committed to your greatness. ◆ Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and executive coach. He can be reached at: mkamwendo@gmail.com and Twitter: @ MiltonKamwendo or WhatsApp at: 0772422634. His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com