Strategy Talk with Christian Underwood and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Weigand
HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY -
Make your business strategy simple with the StrategyFrame.
Latest findings from strategy research, management education and consulting practice prepared for direct application in companies: With the StrategyFrame, the author duo and podcast hosts have developed a novel practical tool for strategy development and implementation. It connects end-to-end the strategy process in a practical way: from the situation analysis and strategic decision-making to the target picture, the formulation and communication of priorities, and the implementation of measures.
TARGET GROUP
Whether at the top management level of a corporation or in an owner-managed medium-sized company: StrategyFrame makes strategy tangible, narratable and applicable. A book for all strategy makers and those who want to become one.
BENEFITS
The book dispels previous strategy myths and sheds light on the individual steps of strategy work throughout the entire process. It offers precise knowledge along the workflow. With inspiration and real practical examples, it provides concrete, tried-and-tested guidance for strategy development and implementation.
SHOWNOTES:
Pre-order now: https://www.underwood.de/buch
Christian Underwood: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianunderwood/
Prof. Jürgen Weigand: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j%C3%BCrgen-weigand/
Underwood Ltd: https://www.underwood.de
Detailed episode description:
Why do we need another strategy book?
There are already a large number of strategy books on the market. In the new book "Hope is not a strategy", which will be published in October by Campus Verlag, the authors of the book Christian Underwood and Jürgen Weigand want to share their experiences and tips in the field of strategy development, but above all also make the topic understandable, interesting and directly applicable for everyone.
In this strategy discussion, you will provide an initial outlook on what readers can expect and what added value the new book will bring.
What can readers expect?
The subtitle of the book is "Making your business strategy simple with StrategyFrame". This has two meanings. On the one hand, it is intended to create the start of a strategy process, i.e. to make strategy simple. On the other hand, strategy should be simplified in such a way that strategy development is not a burden or a torment for those involved, but is also a pleasure for them.
The book "Hope is not a strategy" provides precisely these impulses for starting a process and, in addition, a systematic, structured approach to how to proceed.
Christian Underwood and Jürgen Weigand want to detach the high art of strategy development from complicated terminology and thus make it understandable for everyone, even for corporate leaders whose everyday life is not concerned with strategy development.
Because a lot of things are also easy to implement if you know how to do it along the workflow.
What do Christian and Jürgen understand by strategy in a simple sense?
Strategy is the plan to move from the current state to the future and achieve the set goals.
In the book, no great historical explanations are made. Theory has been relegated to the background, so that the focus is on the presentation of a tool, a workflow with appropriate knowledge. It shows how it is possible to develop the target image from the situation analysis and then transfer it to the fields of action, as well as to design the implementation of the strategy.
There will be many instructions for this. In addition, there is the possibility to apply elements from the book directly in the workshop.
For Christian, this was an essential point. Unlike other strategy books, readers should not only be given lots of great ideas, but also concrete advice on how to implement them. Learning along the workflow is the name of this approach.
Many books on the market focus on individual parts or always leave the question open: "And how do I really do this? Christian and Jürgen, however, want to cover the entire strategy process - from formulation to implementation to reformation. Covering the questions "What are the results?", "What can I learn from this?" and "Where do we go from here?" are, after all, just as much a part of the process.
Michael Porter, in particular, has served as a model for breaking down theoretical approaches into something practical. His book contains many well-founded, theoretical approaches and views, but at the same time he has managed to formulate them in a way that enables strategists to implement them immediately.
So after reading it, it should be possible to get started immediately in a framework that always highlights the important factors, so that you don't get lost in details, but can focus on the right things.
For whom was this book written? What is the target audience?
Thebook is aimed at all strategy makers and those who want to become one. There is no focus on specific company sizes, industries or markets.
Strategy is often placed only at the very top of corporate management. Large companies often have their own strategy departments and spend a lot of time on strategy development. The goal of this book, however, is to make this knowledge available to anyone who wants to succeed and develop a plan to achieve their goals, so that anyone is able to conduct such a strategy process.
Especially for smaller companies and SMEs, it is very exciting that the book empowers people to develop and execute strategy on their own. Everyone can understand it. This is a key factor: empowering people to do strategy themselves. However, this strongly conveyed self-doing approach is not meant to discourage external advice and inspiration. Rather, it offers the advantage of learning exactly what steps to take and what happens during those steps. Letting external consultants or advisors take a fresh look at one's own strategy then makes sense at another point. By using the StrategyFrame, one knows at which points it makes sense to think alone and at which not.
The principle of hope should be abolished in the corporate world. For those who are looking for a pragmatic assistance we have developed the StrategyFrame. It is a help and a tool, a methodology and a process, which also combines research topics, latest management teachings and consulting practice. It is a tool that comes from practical experience and has already been used by a wide variety of clients - from hairdressing salons to insolvency administrators to large corporations. It works always and on all levels.
The essential factors for balancing rationality and creativity
A big picture is always helpful. A big picture opens up the possibility of stepping back to understand individual contexts and to have clarity and truth. In addition, a holistic approach is taken here.
The book will initially be published in German, with the English version then scheduled to appear in bookstores in early 2023. This results in the special challenge of finding the right terminology in both languages, so that this clarity in language makes everything understandable even for inexperienced strategists of tomorrow.
The book offers a great deal of help in terms of organizing workshops, scheduling, etc. through instructions for concrete procedures, so that the theory can be put into practice. Christian and Jürgen are currently working on a digital version.
On www.hoffnungistkeinestrategie.de you have the possibility to pre-order the book. You can find the link in the show notes.