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

    183 ratings


    More shows like At Work with The Ready

    View all
    Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

    Hidden Brain

    43,534 Listeners

    The Knowledge Project by Shane Parrish

    The Knowledge Project

    2,695 Listeners

    Coaching for Leaders by Dave Stachowiak

    Coaching for Leaders

    1,475 Listeners

    HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

    HBR IdeaCast

    179 Listeners

    How to Be Awesome at Your Job by How to be Awesome at Your Job

    How to Be Awesome at Your Job

    1,037 Listeners

    Worklife with Adam Grant by TED

    Worklife with Adam Grant

    9,135 Listeners

    Inside the Strategy Room by McKinsey & Company

    Inside the Strategy Room

    177 Listeners

    At The Table with Patrick Lencioni by Patrick Lencioni

    At The Table with Patrick Lencioni

    1,132 Listeners

    The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos by Pushkin Industries

    The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

    14,403 Listeners

    A Bit of Optimism by Simon Sinek

    A Bit of Optimism

    2,228 Listeners

    ReThinking by TED

    ReThinking

    619 Listeners

    We Can Do Hard Things by Treat Media and Glennon Doyle

    We Can Do Hard Things

    41,659 Listeners

    Fixable by TED

    Fixable

    222 Listeners

    HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review

    HBR On Leadership

    173 Listeners

    What Now? with Trevor Noah by Trevor Noah

    What Now? with Trevor Noah

    4,306 Listeners