By Leslie Pratch
McKinsey Quarterly came out today with a section on “Behavioral Strategy.” I can discern no new ideas, no new thinking. The best material on behavioral strategy as a science (an evolving one but nevertheless one that shows promise of becoming the basis for defining enduring parameters of a true behavioral strategy, is an article by James Schrager and Al Madansky of Chicago Booth, both of the University of Chicago’s business school. Rather than discuss the merits of process over framework, these fine thinkers focus instead on how to help managers learn to think strategically.
When the article is published I will let my readers know. Essentially, what I read into it (although this meaning may not be the conscious intention of the authors) is that strategy can be taught, its learning can be accelerated by the study of how master strategists develop their skill. It’s more than mere pattern recognition; it’s knowing how to chunk information efficiently and how to draw upon appropriate metaphors and analogies to gain insight into strategic issues facing a company.
Where I think the action is is NOT in matrices (BCG) or other quick and dirty decision guides. Rather, it lies in shaking strategists out of conventional modes of thinking, which are, unfortunately, the modes of thinking business schools are in the business of promoting. After all, as one friend put it, “I fear nothing but losing the support of the main populace” (she is an emigre of the Soviet Union and is truly fearless). But business schools seem to fall in tow with the traditional 60+ year old methods for thinking about strategy.
The model Schrager and Madansky propose is heuristic and as it stands is in need of research to support it. The action is between the teacher and the student. The evidence for this is the immense impact both men, Schrager and Madansky, have had on their students. The latter has ushered forward the careers of business school professors; the former is a brilliant teacher of strategy who is sure to shift the field of “Behavioral Strategy” in a more fruitful, less dusty direction.
Look to future posts on their work: It is the next step forward in measuring job fit for the strategist defines the ultimate vision of the organization and as such should possess the highest complexity of information processing available. He or she doesn’t have to be the CEO but every organization should have a visionary. If interested you may turn to our website on selecting and developing leaders which sets forth a two tiered competency framework. Applied strategic vision is merely one higher level competency that may be required of a senior executive. But it needn’t be the CEO’s job; rather he or she should be providing the interface between the capital markets and ensuring the optimum satisfaction of all relevant stakeholders. These include the CEO, the management team, the shareholders, the debt holders, the employees, the surrounding community, and most broadly, the ecology. And must do it all within regulatory, legal, and perhaps moral constraints.
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Leslie Pratch, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist from the Northwestern Medical School with an M.B.A. in Strategy and Finance from Chicago Booth and a B.A. in Religion from Williams College. She works with boards of directors of public companies as well as private equity investors to assess and develop executives. She can be reached at (312) 464-7919 or leslie@pratchco.com or www.pratchco.com.
