Adventure of Strategy

Samedi Soir, Juan Les Pins (Ted Seth Jacobs, 1981)

One of my friends here in Freeport was formerly the CEO of a very substantial North American financial services organization and a serial entrepreneur and owner of a fair number of other businesses besides. He is also a very competent artist and is currently devoting much time and effort to honing his skills as a painter, under the tutelage of the best mentors that he can find.

He and I found ourselves talking over coffee this morning, of analogies between art and strategy. Art ranges extensively from the most appalling rubbish to the most stunning masterpieces, with much in the “average” band in between. So it is with strategy. Some is positively dysfunctional. At the other end of the range is the strategy that one finds in place in firms that are truly “getting it right.” With much, again, in the “average” band in between.

We got to debating what differentiates the exceptional from the average. A little esoteric, perhaps, but here goes with some of the ideas that emerged: Bill took down a book by Ted Seth Jacobs, titled “Light for the Artist.” It is about how the artist “sees” that which he or she is attempting to capture on canvas. Says Jacobs in the book’s preface:

“I wish to show you the profound differences between the visual images transmitted through the eye and the vast, complex, deeply ingrained symbolic conceptions that we attach to these images. It is my belief that most of our difficulties in drawing and painting – and perhaps in life! – arise from our inability to clearly distinguish these two functions. Although it is very difficult in practice to separate word from image, to the extent that we succeed, life seems to become much clearer and brighter.”

Jacobs writes of "verbal symbolic constructs," being the linguistic description that we give something, and the symbolic meaning that we attribute to it, as distinct to that thing's unique identity. These are of course completely essential to creating common understandings between people and are the most fundamental building blocks of language. Dissonance results, however, when the verbal symbolic constructs that we apply to a given situation are incorrect. It is as essential for the artist as for the strategist to distinguish between what is being observed, and how one would normally interpret that, as opposed to the most appropriate interpretation under the specific circumstances that exist.

One of the main commonalities between excellence in art and excellence in strategy, Bill and I then agreed, lies in the degree to which the artist or the observer pays attention in observing his or her subject. This is essential to understanding what is really going on, so that strategy can align as closely as possible with the firm's reality. Our previous experience, our personal biases, even our linguistic limitations, tend to hinder the degree to which we can accurately perceive reality. We are all prisoners of our paradigms, which is why it sometimes takes somebody from a completely different background to find the optimal solution to a difficult strategic problem especially where an new and original solution is indicated.

Just as less-than-exceptional artists might perceive a piece of paper that they want to illustrate as “white,’ without appreciating the specific color or tone and the impact of light and shadow, so less-than-exceptional strategists might view complex interactions and influences in a firm as simple and use blunt instruments to try to “fix” them.

I am reminded of a quotation attributed to Albert Einstein, that for every problem there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. For instance: the way to retain associates is simply to pay them more; installing more advanced technology will make people share knowledge more efficiently; improving the firm’s abilities in one or two areas will automatically dilute areas of weakness. Poor strategists default to the first simple and neat solution that emerges. Superlative strategists ensure that they understand the underlying forces and principles at play before they volunteer a diagnosis and thence an effective and sustainable solution.

Back to Jacobs: “If you know how to look you can work out how to get that vision down on paper. It much more important to understand the underlying principles and philosophy. As your deep understanding develops, you will naturally learn which methods … are best for you.”   If you know how to look ....

Great post, Rob.

I think you might really enjoy Opening the Mind's Eye: How Images and Language Teach Us How To See by Ian Robertson. It is one of my favorite books. He talks about matters related to what you wrote.