LONG-TERMISM IS OVER

As I wrote in my recent Strategy article for CSAE, long-termism is over. Look hard around you. Rules and instructions change quickly and contradict all the time. 

"Focus your executives’ time on discerning where the pressure points and opportunities will be in the coming years, and identifying the most proactive approach. Review your plan every six months to a year, and be prepared to revise as driving forces (i.e. technology, regulations, consumer preferences, social mores) change rapidly without warning."

Key to this are three mindsets: agility in strategy (not just in operations and pouncing on opportunities), strategizing on the strategy, and the discipline to follow-through.

Agility in strategy is about absolutely turning conventional wisdom on long-term planning. It's about learning as you and improvising your subsequent steps rather than preoccupied with planning as if every ducks are in the row. Strategizing on strategy is ensuring that optimal use of resources of doing, measuring, and implementing your new strategy. Forget the 3-day strategy retreat in a nice resort or vacation destination. Try remote strategizing once a week for the next 3 months or so and be surprised as to how much you can accomplish with so little! And third, discipline is the modern-day effectiveness and efficiency combined as measures. Without the discipline and laser-focus commitment, your strategy becomes just a strategy, not a reality. 

Consider this when you think about long-termism using a short-term perspective for the future- the post-pandemic future, that is.