At Work with The Ready

2. Your PowerPoint Deck Is Not a Strategy


Listen Later

It's January! New beginnings? Ambitious plans? Giant commitments to change? They’re on everyone’s mind. Companies included—since now’s the time when glossy PowerPoint decks are so eagerly rolled out. And those PowerPoints? They’re always brimming with promise for the year ahead.

But there's a glaring disconnect between those slides (all 73 of them) and eventual success we often don’t address. Because how frequently do those meticulously crafted plans pan out? Does the new agenda account for the day-to-day running of the company? Is the plan flexible enough to handle economic curveballs? (We remember 2020, right?)

The reality is that “traditional strategy” often resembles New Year's resolutions; they’re imbued with good intentions but ultimately destined for disappointment.

In this episode of "At Work with The Ready," (new year, new podcast name!) co-hosts Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore our deep-rooted conditioning toward conventional planning methods (despite their shortcomings), share what a more complexity conscious approach to strategy looks like, and give you moves to start busting up the annual cycles of frustration, stagnancy, and finger-pointing.


Mentioned references:

  • "Getting Things Done and David Allen": Brave New Work Ep. 39 with David Allen
  • "90% of leaders admit strategies fail based on implementation": Closing The Gap: Designing and Delivering a Strategy That Works - The Economist's Intelligence Unit
  • Essential Intent
  • Japanese pancakes, straight from Sam's Instagram algorithm
  • Even/overs: Brave New Work Ep. 44
  • Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
  • Looping
  • Red Teaming
  • "Scenario planning": Brave New Work Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly
  • Adjacent possible
  • Op rhythm
  • "mango sorbet": Brave New Work Ep. 163 Check-In Round

  • Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

    Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter.

    We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

    Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    At Work with The ReadyBy Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin

    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5

    5

    179 ratings


    More shows like At Work with The Ready

    View all
    On Being with Krista Tippett by On Being Studios

    On Being with Krista Tippett

    10,266 Listeners

    The Tim Ferriss Show by Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig

    The Tim Ferriss Show

    16,107 Listeners

    The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish by Shane Parrish

    The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

    2,667 Listeners

    Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

    Hidden Brain

    43,440 Listeners

    10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

    10% Happier with Dan Harris

    12,631 Listeners

    Revisionist History by Pushkin Industries

    Revisionist History

    58,984 Listeners

    Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel by Esther Perel Global Media

    Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel

    14,929 Listeners

    Worklife with Adam Grant by TED

    Worklife with Adam Grant

    9,177 Listeners

    Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel by LinkedIn

    Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

    1,022 Listeners

    The Josh Bersin Company by Josh Bersin

    The Josh Bersin Company

    57 Listeners

    Deep Questions with Cal Newport by Cal Newport

    Deep Questions with Cal Newport

    1,303 Listeners

    ReThinking by TED

    ReThinking

    622 Listeners