Henry Mintzberg in The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning: “Analysis is not synthesis, and strategic planning is not strategy formation … Ultimately, the term ‘strategic planning’ has proved to be an oxymoron.”
Here’s what I wrote down on reading the above:
Analysis ? insights and revelations
Synthesis ? new thoughts, new combinations
Strategy formulation ? strategic planning ? execution
Dev Paitnaik went on to say: “real strategy isn’t some plan that gets crafted on the top floor of headquarters by a small team of high-level executives and planners. It isn’t a report that a consultant delivers. Real strategy is the aggregate of thousands of decisions that employees make over time. When you improve those decisions, you improve your strategy. … Both Jack Stack and Henry Mintzberg recognize that a companywide initiative works only if you can make it meaningful to every individual within an organization.”
From Wired to Care by Dev Paitnaik with Peter Mortensen. ISBN 0-13-714234-X.
