Adventure of Strategy

Did you ever see the movie "Jaws?" If you did, it probably fair to say that you may be hesitant about getting close to a great white shark in the open sea, and the photo above is making your hair stand on end! The more adventurous amongst us (like Brad Pitt) might repress those memories of "Jaws" sinking the boat and snacking on the salty old fisherman, and get up close to a white shark from the safety of a ski boat. The bravest amongst us might even go down in a shark cage and view these magnificent apex predators under water. (This has become a major tourist magnet at the small southern Cape village of Gansbaai, near Cape Town.)

But actually get right up next to a white shark, in the water, without a cage? Surely that's complete lunacy?

The picture above is real. It pictures South African Mike Rutzen free diving in the open ocean with a fully-grown white shark. Mike has somehow learnt how to interact with these creatures. (Click here for an article on Divernet that has more truly awesome photographs!)

"Freediving with these animals is no game. Mike's initial encounters with them were tentative, and progress was slow. Only when he realised that when he was freediving he was not an observer but a part of the sharks' hierarchy did the real learning begin.

On one of his first dives, Mike pushed an over-curious shark away using the butt of his speargun. The shark returned to give an almighty gape just centimetres from Mike's face. There is nothing like pissing off a great white to kick-start the learning process."

Mike's experiences holds a powerful lesson for strategy where the market is dangerous and the risks significant. Three aspects in particular, make them a useful metaphor for strategy under uncertain circumstances.

1.PASSIONATE LEARNING

Rutzen has taken a great deal of trouble to get to know white sharks. To describe him as being passionate about them would be an understatement! He is very heavily involved in conservation efforts to defuse the damage that "Jaws" and other features preying on human fears have done for sharks across the world. (According to National Geographic, more people die every year from eating sharks, than by being eaten by sharks.)

The photos of him riding on a white shark's dorsal fin, or stroking its side as it passes, provide a more powerful learning for others than a ton of books and scientific studies could have. His learning has been real, visceral, "hands on;" rather than sifting through and massaging reams and reams of data.

There is a huge difference between information and knowledge. It takes the latter to yield understanding and confidence. The former is simply inadequate, yet it is at this level that so much strategic input often stops. Assessing the risks and dangers inherent in a strategic course of action is not a matter of number crunching. Rather, it is about really trying to understand the deep drivers and the complex interactions at play. One's gut then becomes as important a source of wisdom as one's head!

2.RESPECTFUL EMPATHY

Respect for a foreign environment is critical if one is to achieve what one hopes to in that environment. Just like Mike and his sharks, one has to be an active and congruent part of the environment, rather than an alien observer or transient visitor. This is every bit as true when swimming with white sharks, as (for instance) operating a branch office of one's firm in a culturally alien market.

Says Mike:

"The movements of other individuals tell a white shark what is going on around it. If you can fit into this system, you can be accepted as part of it, and everything around, including white sharks, will behave as normal."

For Mike, this means free diving rather than using SCUBA. (The bubbles are alien to the sharks.) It means behaving in a relaxed, confident manner and avoiding sudden moves or haste.

"Anything that moves fast in the ocean is either chasing something or being chased by something," says Mike.

This means respecting the sharks and their environment, for out of respect comes the ability to "fit in." Conversely, arrogance and belief in one's superiority (difficult to imagine when interacting with a white shark but, sadly, common enough with professionals from the "developed world" interacting with the peers and clients in the so-called emerging economies) is a recipe for failure.

3.COURAGE (JUST DO IT!)

This Nike slogan has always been one of my favourites. If you understand how to work inside the risks that everybody stares themselves blind against, and have the respect and empathy that leads to being able to be accepted, then you have the basic tools to be able to deal with the environment that you want to operate in. There is one final ingredient that is needed, though. That is : to summon up courage, take the calculated risk and get into the water!

I was talking to senior lawyers in a firm recently that had been agonizing over a merger with another firm for a long time. By then, the two sides knew each other well. Very well, in fact. I asked them:

"What does your gut tell you the likelihood is of the merger failing, if you go ahead with it?"

"Almost none," they replied.

I concurred. My advice? Stop agonizing over what might go wrong and ..... just do it! Just like Mike cannot predict how each of his interaction with white sharks will play itself out, and has to deal with each development as it arises, so one cannot fully predict the outcome of any strategic action fully either. Strategy is a process, not an event or destination.

The same applies when the situation involves a threat rather than an opportunity. One of the most important lessons that Mike's experience is: on encountering a white shark in the ocean, stand your ground!

Comments, as always, are most welcome and may be posted below.