1. Direction & Vision
Purpose, ambition, future state, what business you're in
What single attribute do you want your organisation to be known for?
Just try it.What does your organisation stand for that competitors cannot credibly claim?
Worth KeepingIf your organisation disappeared tomorrow, what would genuinely be missed - and by whom?
Gods and MortalsWhat business are you actually in, as opposed to the business you think you're in?
Source not identified in archiveWhere do you want to be in three years, and what would need to be true for that to happen?
What difference does difference make?What is the gap between where you are and where you aspire to be - and what is the cost of that gap?
Source not identified in archiveWhat is the story you want to be telling about your organisation in five years?
ReplacementWhat do your best clients believe you stand for - and does that match your own view?
What do we really believe in?If you had to reduce your organisation's purpose to a single sentence, what would it be?
Polarising or complementing?What would need to change for your current vision to become your current reality?
When Billions Can't Buy SilenceWhat future are you building toward that requires courage, not just competence?
Strategic ArchaeologyWhat are you prepared to be distinctly second-best at, in order to be genuinely first at something that matters?
Source not identified in archiveWhat is the version of success you would be proud to describe to the people who trust you most?
Source not identified in archiveHow much of your current activity is aligned to the future you say you want?
Source not identified in archiveWhat can't you do digitally that you can only do in person - and what does that reveal about where genuine value lives?
Fast or slow?What 'cognitive surplus' exists in your organisation that you could put to better use?
Switched onWhat 'long game' plays are you making - and what would you want to have achieved in 30 years?
When it's OK to not budgeCan you identify just three transformative areas of focus for your organisation - and are those three shaping every major decision?
Being a hero in your own life storyWhat does success really look like in your organisation, beyond the financial metrics?
Communicating for successWhat future trend would it be invaluable to have foresight about - and what are you doing to develop it?
How to play the long gameHow do you know whether your organisation needs repair before it can pursue an ambitious strategic goal?
Strategy and stressWhat 3 existential questions would help your leadership team reframe how the organisation does its work?
How to play the long game2. Market & Customer
Who you serve, customer triage, brand, audience definition
How does your organisation react to reports of customer inconvenience?
What we can and can't do; what we will and won't doHow can you mobilise your customers or clients to act together in the interests of the greater good?
Breaking the rulesWhat costs can you separate out before passing them on to your customers as a fee, a surcharge, or a premium?
Evolution of the species: New for 2023What experiments can you conduct that test the economics, logistics, and customer experience of technology-human 'centaur' service offerings?
Breaking the rulesHow have you defined an 'undefinable' target audience for your services or products?
The gaps in-betweenWho are the customers or clients you should stop serving - and what is the real cost of continuing?
Source not identified in archiveWhat do your customers value that you are not yet charging for?
Remove what people hateWhat would your best customers say you do better than anyone else - and are you leading with that?
The adult worldWhat is the minimum your customers actually need from you to achieve the outcome they want?
Less is the New MoreWhich customer relationships are worth growing, and which are costing you more than they return?
Source not identified in archiveWhat would your customers lose if they lost you - and do they know it?
Remove what people hateHow visible are you to the buyers who most need what you offer?
Source not identified in archiveWhat new audience could you serve with your existing capabilities, without diluting what you do best?
Source not identified in archiveWhat does your market believe about you that is either incomplete or simply wrong?
What we don't notice is often the most powerfulWhat friction exists between your customer and the outcome they want - and how much of it do you own?
Source not identified in archiveWhat are you asking your customers to do that they find unnecessarily hard?
Do these three things and your life will changeWhose opinion about your market are you over-relying on?
Power, deprivation and nudgesWhere do you place your communications so that they productively intercept your customers at the right moment?
Getting in people's wayWhat costs, in your business, does the customer see as friction - and what would happen if you removed them?
The alchemy of differenceAre you clear on which societal issues you should have a policy, a position, or simply compassion - and are you acting accordingly?
Source not identified in archiveWhat proportion of your revenues could you afford to lose, and for how long - and have you stress-tested that assumption?
Who cares?What 'facts' about your customers do you (or others) accept unquestioningly, but probably shouldn't?
When people buy uglyWhat irrational boundaries exist in your organisation that a customer would find absurd?
We are all masters of thisHow can you use service recovery and apologies to build loyalty, rather than just limit damage?
Source not identified in archiveWhat do you explicitly do to build consumer trust in you?
Being sureWhat inadvertent signals do your staff - and premises - give your customers?
Unconscious aversionWhat subtle differentials in your product or service offerings actually make a disproportionate difference to your customers?
Getting it just rightHow clear are you about who your 'central' customer is - the person the entire model is calibrated for?
Winning through deliberate designWhat can you offer your customers to stimulate a long-term shift in their behaviour?
On the way to something greaterWhat 'secret sauce' do your best clients love that you could refine, protect, and lead with more deliberately?
Getting it just rightHow can you systematise ritual, rapport, and congruence in your service offerings?
Noticing signals of success (or failure)How do you differentiate yourself when you can't choose your product, customers, or pricing?
Africa Edition #1What is something you think your customers want, but you could be proven wrong about?
Who are you being intimate with right now?What product features do you consciously build in to create greater lifetime customer value - and how legitimate are these to your customer?
Getting the mostHow do you develop interventions that target your highest-need customers only, rather than imposing them on everyone?
Summer Edition #2 - I'm an individual - or am I?3. Strategic Factors & Priorities
What drives the business, where focus must go
What unintended consequences might arise from your organisation's 'do or die' strategic decisions?
The gaps in-betweenWhat are the three or four things that, if they went wrong, would put everything at risk?
Why 'and' is more powerful than 'or'What is the single most important thing your organisation must get right in the next twelve months?
Time-horizon conflicts, efficient governments & tests for bad ideasWhat are you treating as a priority that should actually be a constraint - and vice versa?
Gap-fillingWhat would you stop doing immediately if you were starting this business today?
What goes unnoticedWhat are the critical factors in your organisation that you are measuring - and which are you not measuring that you should be?
Things Only You Can DoWhat decisions are you deferring that are already costing you more than making them would?
Pushing towards the edgeWhere is your organisation's performance genuinely world-class, and where is it average?
When Reality Refuses to NegotiateWhat is the one strategic move that would change the shape of your competitive position?
Getting more, or doing less?What are the assumptions baked into your current strategy that most need testing?
Source not identified in archiveWhat would you do differently if you knew the next three years would be significantly harder than the last three?
Worth KeepingWhat is the cost - financial, relational, and reputational - of your current indecision on the issues that matter most?
Source not identified in archiveHow often does your organisation's stated strategy determine actual resource allocation?
Source not identified in archiveWhat are the small decisions accumulating inside your organisation that are, in aggregate, shaping strategy by default?
Things Only You Can DoWhat is it about your organisation's model that your competitors have not yet copied - and how long before they do?
Source not identified in archiveWhat are your two or three most powerful lead indicators - the ones that, if they move, tell you the strategy is working before the financial results do?
See FurtherWhat critical 'third horizon' work are you doing right now - and is it getting the attention it deserves?
Forget timezonesHow do you know when a strategic reset is needed, and do you have the courage to call for one?
4 Strategic Lessons from The Beatles' "Get Back"What is the biggest strategic bet your organisation should be making, and what is stopping you from making it?
Big bets that pay offIn your organisation, do you know which roles are at risk from automation or structural change - and what are you doing to prepare?
Source not identified in archiveWhat aspects of your business could be considered 'stranded assets' - investments that are losing value and can't easily be repositioned?
Bets on the futureWhat unstated assumptions are you in danger of making big decisions on?
Being sureWhat do you measure that is actually 'the wrong thing' - directing effort away from what matters most?
On the way to something greaterWhat binary thinking in your organisation is outdated and needs to be replaced with more nuanced debate?
What difference does difference make?In what areas are you putting too much effort into the 'arms' when the leverage is really in the 'legs'?
Gap-fillingHow do you use 'least worst' thinking to generate and evaluate options in tough situations?
Just the essentialsWhat do you suspect you might be completely wrong about?
What we don't notice is often the most powerfulDoes your strategy have a 'missing middle' between intent and implementation?
Gap-fillingHow much investment is it worth to mitigate your single biggest risk?
What happens when you put your money on the table4. Implementation & Accountability
Execution, follow-through, strategy-to-behaviour gap
What is the gap between what you say your priorities are and where your time and money actually goes?
Turning things on their sideWhat decisions are being made at the wrong level of the organisation - either too high or too low?
A hail of bulletsWhat have you agreed to do, but not yet done - and what does that cost you in credibility and momentum?
Source not identified in archiveWhere does your organisation consistently confuse activity with progress?
What Harvard, NASA and Your GP Know About StrategyWhat would make it easier for your people to do the right thing without being told?
Give us creditWhat is the one conversation you have been avoiding that, once had, would unblock the most?
In the Grey ZoneHow do you currently distinguish between 'not yet' and 'not ever' in your decision-making?
The Glue, The Guess, and The Girlfriend ChatWhat metrics are your people optimising for that are not actually what you care about?
What We Buy vs. What We UseWhere in your organisation does accountability end without consequence?
Playing the long gameWhat would your team say if asked: what is the real priority here, and does it match what leadership says?
While You Weren't LookingWhen did you last stop doing something, rather than simply adding to what already exists?
Growing upWhat process in your organisation consumes the most energy relative to the value it creates?
Shock and surpriseWho in the organisation is clear about what they own and what happens if they don't deliver?
Trust conquers allWhat is the sequence of moves required to get from where you are to where you want to be - and is that sequence right?
Is it OK to want more?What have you started that you no longer have the conviction to finish - and what would it take to be honest about that?
Source not identified in archiveHow systematically are you prioritising effort - and how willing are you to let go of genuinely good ideas?
Business as unusualHow good is the debate in your organisation about tolerance of uncertainty - and who is shaping it?
The power of tiny insightsWhat processes can you break into smaller chunks that would give a better result?
Strategic oppositionWhat can you do to enable your team to think less sequentially and more strategically?
When saying sorry is worth millionsHow effectively can you train your customers to self-serve - and what labour-intensive services could automation handle instead?
Deviate from the rulesWhat stories or false narratives do you need to actively displace in your organisation?
ReplacementAre you missing critical perspectives that, if not heard, could cause something significant to blow up?
On the journeyWhat is outstanding about your organisation - and how would you amplify, replicate, generalise, and codify it?
Summer Edition #3 - Straight to the pointWhat useful shorthand terms do you use - or need - to signal complex ideas quickly across your organisation?
So little, so muchHow well does your organisation's strategy give you freedom of movement within well-understood parameters?
Gap-filling5. Sustain · Improve · Jettison · Retain · Acquire
Forensic examination of current activities, relationships, and assets
What is working well enough that the only risk is stopping doing it?
Making roomWhat would you improve immediately if you had no budget constraints - and what does that tell you about your priorities?
Source not identified in archiveWhat are you retaining out of habit, sunk cost, or sentiment rather than genuine strategic value?
Source not identified in archiveWhat would you jettison from your portfolio of activities if you had the courage to be ruthless?
Source not identified in archiveWhat capability, relationship, or asset are you missing that, if acquired, would change your trajectory?
Source not identified in archiveWhat are you sustaining that is consuming resources your growth strategy actually needs?
Source not identified in archiveWhat do you retain in-house that someone else could do better, faster, and more cheaply?
The Loads We CarryWhat would you acquire if the primary goal were to accelerate capability rather than revenue?
Source not identified in archiveWhat does your current portfolio of activities tell a neutral observer about what you actually believe?
Source not identified in archiveWhich of your products, services, or relationships are still there because no one has made the decision to remove them?
The Magician's Strategy: What We Hide, What We Keep, and What We BecomeWhat are the unseen costs of the things you are keeping?
Source not identified in archiveWhat would a serious competitor do to your portfolio if they had your resources?
Source not identified in archiveWhat are you improving incrementally when the situation actually calls for replacement?
Source not identified in archiveWhere are you tolerating 'good enough' in an area that customers care about deeply?
Real feelings in an unreal worldWhat would you build or buy if you were designing your capability base from scratch?
Source not identified in archiveIn what areas should you strategise to gain 'early access' to a capability, invention, or innovation?
Little things, combinedHow do you distinguish 'costs of doing business' from 'reinvested profits' - and are you optimising each appropriately?
Source not identified in archiveWhat inefficiencies are invisible in your organisation because they are rarely questioned?
What we don't notice is often the most powerfulWhat 'waste' could you imaginatively re-purpose or prevent?
ReplacementWhat strategic ideas get pruned - or even perverted - when one set of interests consistently prevails?
Summer Edition #6 - What everyone needs6. People, Leadership & Culture
Behaviour, agency, talent, feedback, internal dynamics
How would you rate yourself - and each director you know well - on the ability to narrow focus and to 'smell the smoke from a distance'?
What we can and can't do; what we will and won't doWhose performance are you improving through high-quality feedback?
The gaps in-betweenWho in your organisation is being held back by your leadership style rather than their own limitations?
Source not identified in archiveWhere does the culture of your organisation contradict the values you say you hold?
Goodbye to a summer of exploring, thinking & readingWhat do your best people believe about their future with you - and is that belief accurate?
Reframing change leadershipWho is doing extraordinary work that you have not publicly recognised?
Worth KeepingWhat behaviour is your incentive system rewarding that you would prefer it did not?
Getting it just rightWhat are your people afraid to tell you - and why?
Getting paid to do what's not normalWho in the organisation is operating without the authority they actually need to do their job?
Strategic TherapyWhat would your organisation look like if every person in it behaved the way you say you want them to?
Transporting thoughtsWhat is the quality of thinking in your organisation at the moment decisions actually get made?
Challenging normsWhere is disagreement being suppressed in ways that are making your strategy less rigorous?
Source not identified in archiveWhat does your hiring process reveal about what you truly value - versus what you say you value?
WitchcraftWho are the people whose departure would genuinely put the organisation at risk - and do they know how valued they are?
Source not identified in archiveWhat does 'good leadership' actually look like in your organisation, as opposed to in theory?
Communicating for successWhat conversations are happening in the car park that should be happening in the boardroom?
Gap-fillingHow are you developing the next generation of leaders, and is it working?
What You're Not Measuring Is Killing YouWhat are your biases for what you notice - and how do you compensate for that within your team?
The adult worldWhat are you doing to encourage your people to bring their whole selves to work?
Radical truthsWhat truths should you be telling in your organisation - and which 'infections' of ordinariness, avoidance, or dishonesty need to be tackled?
Radical truthsAre you ever in danger of mistaking an 'or' question for an 'and' question - or vice versa?
Radical truthsHow do you incentivise your people to increase their value to your customers and your organisation?
How indispensable are you?Whom can you nurture, and what would it require of you to do that well?
The adult worldWho do you deliberately seek out to network with - and which connectors, energisers, and contrarians are missing from your network?
Unconscious aversionWhat would you create if you 'acted across' rather than just 'acted up' in your organisation?
Reflect and resetWhat ideas are ALL your people paid to generate - and does your culture reflect that?
Getting paid to do what's not normalHow do you ensure a critical new hire is set up for success even before they start?
Getting the mostWhat can you do to recapture joy and wonder in your people?
Paying attention to the worldWhat diverse perspectives are missing from the strategic advice you currently receive?
How to simply reframe a complex problemAre your staff fully focused and gaining energy from their interactions with your customers?
Strategy and stressHow can you turn attention onto individuals in your team and deeply validate their superpowers?
What it is to be humanHow do you enable people in your organisation to show themselves in their best possible way?
Summer Edition #6 - What everyone needsOn what issues does your organisation need to get good at truth-telling?
What happens when you put your money on the tableAre there rules in your organisation based on bias that act against you?
So little, so muchWhat protective factors can you reinforce or introduce to build psychological resilience in your people?
So little, so muchWhat can you do to be more sentient to factors inside - and outside - your organisation?
Life hacks7. Innovation & Disruption
Experimentation, using volatility as an offensive weapon
How could you design a transformative product or service from the assumption that it must save your organisation from failure?
Breaking the rulesWhat are you consciously doing differently to step outside your habitual ways of operating?
Just try it.What 19th-century technology or process are you still using, and why?
What we can and can't do; what we will and won't doWhat can you do to reduce friction in your service or product offerings?
Just try it.What would need to be true for a well-funded competitor to make your current model irrelevant within five years?
Getting Signal from NoiseWhat assumption, if proved wrong, would require you to redesign your business?
Source not identified in archiveWhat are you experimenting with right now - and what does the absence of experiments tell you?
Source not identified in archiveWhat is the smallest possible version of a new idea you could test this month?
In Africa (just)What market signals are you receiving that you are choosing not to act on?
Source not identified in archiveWhere does your industry accept as normal something that a customer would call absurd?
Source not identified in archiveWhat could you offer that no one in your market currently provides - and what is stopping you?
Summer Edition #3What would you do differently if you knew that the biggest risk was doing nothing?
Goldilocks StrategyHow do you use moments of disruption and uncertainty as a source of competitive advantage rather than a reason to wait?
Source not identified in archiveWhat new combinations of existing capabilities could create something genuinely different in your market?
Source not identified in archiveWhere are you playing not to lose, when playing to win would look completely different?
Not the obviousWhat would it mean to make the invisible visible in your industry - and who would pay for that?
Source not identified in archiveWhat's the smallest creative nudge you could make that has the biggest strategic pay off?
Business as unusualWhat can you do to build circularity into your business model - and what would you need to stop doing to make that possible?
Fast or slow?What intellectual property should you be giving away freely - and what would that change?
Big bets that pay offWhat can you do to stimulate creative thought amongst your colleagues - and are you doing it?
Big bets that pay offWhat 'play' can you introduce into your strategic ideas generation?
4 Strategic Lessons from The Beatles' "Get Back"What in your organisation could benefit from unconventional, minimum-systems thinking?
When people buy uglyWhat kind of world would you want to build if you didn't know which circumstances you'd be born into?
Disappearing jobsWhat 'outside' genius could add to your own people's genius - and what would you need to do to attract it?
4 Strategic Lessons from The Beatles' "Get Back"How can you cause people to enjoy complying - or at least spark a competitive instinct to comply?
How to simply reframe a complex problemWhat is ONE obvious distinction that you should build into your service offerings that no one has thought of yet?
Winning through deliberate designWhat ideas do you hold that are considered radical today but will be entirely normal in 50 years?
Mundane innovatorsWhen does it pay to not be first to market - and instead come up with a breakthrough innovation once others have proved the concept?
Mundane innovatorsWhat could you work towards that is currently considered by some to be impossible?
Deviate from the rulesWhat 'best kept secret' are you - or your organisation - capable of that could be more widely popularised?
The accidental business model --- do you have one?What should you encourage your staff to learn through practical experimentation rather than formal training?
Paying attention to the worldWhat paradoxical elements could you combine - breathable and waterproof, seated and mobile - to differentiate a service or product?
The Pattern BreakersHow can innovative planning enable you to squeeze the greatest intensity out of a limited resource?
Who is this really for?How deliberately do you design services for humans rather than for a commercial outcome?
Who is this really for?What questions, discussions, and mental tools do you use to immerse your decision-makers in a desired future state rather than defending the present?
Strategy in an unreal world