Cargo-Cult Strategy (Or: 'The difference between "Doing Strategy" and being strategic')

True story time! It's World War II, and there are several island societies in the South Pacific that are getting exposed to the industrial world for the first time. Both Allied and Japanese forces set up bases on their islands, and airdropped in vast amounts of cargo. If you were part of an isolated island society, you had never seen anything like it. Such wealth coming from the sky!

Then the war ended. And the wealth disappeared.

Had they displeased the gods & holy men?

Enter: Cargo Cults. Religious movements aimed at pleasing the cargo gods... and getting the wealth flowing in again!

Luckily, the South Pacific Islanders had paid a lot of attention when the rich foreigners were here, so they developed ideas about what to do to get the same results: cargo!

They mimicked the soldiers they had observed, walking up and down the old runway. They cut wooden headphones, mimicking those the soldiers had worn. They built radio towers, completely out of wood. They even crafted life-size straw airplanes, cut landing strips out of the jungle, and lit signal fires, to lure the airborne bounty back.

After all, wasn't that exactly what the Japanese and Allies had done on their island?

Of course, it didn't work.

Their wooden headphones never crackled to life; the straw airplanes never took flight. Their imitation seemed meticulous, but the airs remained silent.

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To us, their behaviour might seem ridiculous. But if you don't understand the principles behind what you're doing, how are you supposed to know the difference?

I think calling these people stupid would be a real, uncalled for, dick move.

And that's why I don't call most people working on strategy 'stupid' either.

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Because I see the same thing happening there.

We routinely fill in the blanks of a SWOT analysis, draw up a business model canvas, sketch an outline of our market entry approach. We're diligently "doing strategy", crafting our wooden towers and runways. But are we just replicating form without understanding the underlying principles?

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How about this example of a client's idea about how there would differentiate themselves in the market:

"the best place to work, doing the best work for clients, at the best price".

Firstly, incredibly generic (it is almost impossible to disagree with those objectives).

And secondly, it contains zero hypotheses about how you are going to actually do that. This is an example of just doing, without thorough understanding.

Contrast this:

"Offering Accessible, stylish designed furniture, for accessible prices - BUT: customers must assemble it themselves. Our stores will be a bit out of the way, and customisation won't be an option.

And by the way: we'll have super-affordable food on offer to keep you fuelled during your shopping journey."

Very easy to disagree with.

("I don't want to travel that far to shop for furniture!", "I want it in red, not beige!" "I don't care about the food...")

Yet - IKEA is pretty remarkable.

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One is about differentiating activities, and the other just lists a bunch of "be the best ?? (...?) ?? profit" fluff.

One just takes a topic, and writes down words that seem nice. The other is more likely the result of deep thinking, experimentation, and a bit of bravery and vision.

Might seem obvious now. But could you explain the principles behind the form here?

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"Doing" strategy isn't the hard part; all it takes is making some time in your calendar, and writing down things you can call "decisions".

Being strategic though... that requires us to develop an understanding of the question behind the question.

Are you making bets about setting priorities, defining markets, crafting value propositions, positioning in the market, planning resource allocation, and determining competitive advantage in a strategic way? Or are you merely going through the motions?

In the hustle to grow, to scale, to make an impact, are you losing sight of what it means to be strategic? In our fervour to build the structures of strategy, are we missing its soul, much like the cargo cults?

Are you wearing wooden headphones?

If you're ready to be honest with yourself: what might be an aspect of strategy where you are just "doing strategy" without actually being strategic?

There's no shame in admitting area's of growth. Nor in getting help ??.

After all: it's not about erecting the tallest wooden tower - it's about understanding how to make the radio sing.

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