The mirror

The Strategy Toolkit - July 2022 edition

Excerpt:  Know Your Capabilities (The business case, and the simple steps to follow - part one)

In 2009, Microsoft opened its first retail stores in Arizona and California, in response to the success of the Apple stores.  Yet, Microsoft had never in their history demonstrated the direct, intimate engagement with end-users for which Apple is famous.

How on earth did they convince themselves that they could just conjure up this capability out of thin air?  By hiring someone?

Contrast the empty feeling when you walk into a Microsoft store with the excitement you feel as you enter an Apple store.

This is the height of hubris.  You cannot pretend to be what you are not.

Hence the central theme of this book:  the importance of your organisation taking a critical look at itself and asking the question – what are we capable of doing?

By knowing your capabilities, you gain clarity.  You can then take the next step of combining the clarity gained with the judgment of your executive team, to generate your new strategy.

We believe in having clarity rather than certainty.  Achieving certainty is near impossible and, in the least, a waste of resources.  Rather, you should gain clarity about your capabilities – a useful and practical way to resolve the anxiety of addressing your strategic challenges.

We believe in having clarity rather than certainty.  Achieving certainty is near impossible and, in the least, a waste of resources. 

In this chapter, we first make the case that you should want to know your capabilities, by answering these six straight-forward questions: