Ditch the Status Quo: How GenAI Can Reshape Your 2025 Strategic Plan

I’ve always thought “strategic planning” is a bit of a misnomer.

After all, strategy and planning are two very different things—and we tend to conflate them.

Regarding strategy, I always turn to my mentor and strategy guru, Roger Martin , former Dean of the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto. Early in my career, right out of college, I got into the strategy planning process under his leadership at Monitor Group, where he was a partner.?

One of the most essential things that Roger talks about is the difference between strategy and planning, and I think his graphic helpfully distinguishes between the two:?

Strategy is a set of integrated choices that position you to win. It involves deciding where you're going to play (and where you're not), determining how you will succeed, and identifying your unique "secret sauce" to get you there. Conversely, planning involves a series of projects with executions, deliverables, and responsibilities. It involves timelines, budgets, and resource allocation.?

When I work with organizations and their leaders, I find that they often don’t talk about strategy at all—they talk about planning.?

At this time of year, most organizations start their planning process and typically put together a budget: a 12-month plan for how they’re going to spend money.?

… But this is not a strategy.?

Kiss The Status Quo Goodbye?

I often say that strategy can't live without planning—and just as importantly, planning can't live without strategy. The challenge many organizations face is that their strategy departments excel at planning but often miss the mark when it comes to strategy itself.?

This distinction becomes even more crucial as we enter the era of generative AI.

The nemesis of a great strategy is the status quo. If we approach planning from the perspective of "What we did last year worked pretty well, so let's just tweak it a bit," we miss opportunities for true innovation and growth. Of course, you don’t need to start from scratch! The reality is you had a strategy for the past few years. So what’s working, and what’s not?

Strategy is about recognizing where you are now, envisioning where you want to be, and making choices—an integrated set of choices—to close that gap.

As you uncover and analyze those gaps, test the assumptions that underpin your strategy by asking the following questions:?

1. How are your customers’ needs evolving??
2. What actions are competitors taking now?
3. How prepared will your leadership and teams be??
4. Who are the new entrants that are going to come into the space?
5. What partners will you need to develop?

The goal here is to start with the biggest gap, the one causing the most pain. You want to make choices based on that, and then, methodically, consider the next biggest gap—and make those choices. Do those choices align with the first set of choices? If not, align and integrate them.?

Then, move into your third biggest gap, ensuring alignment along the way.?

This process ensures an integrated set of choices you’ll make to better your strategy. It generates the foundation upon which you can then layer in GenAI, the ultimate status-quo buster.?

How Can GenAI Help Close Strategic Gaps??

I know this sounds crazy, but one of the most strategic ways to use GenAI is to help you with your strategy. ??

?I think this flowchart captures its utility well:?

Consider incorporating AI in the following areas of your strategic plan:?

Research, Analysis, and Feasibility Assessment.

GenAI is such a powerful tool! Use it to do research and gain insights into your gaps and the options you have to fill them.?

Assess your capabilities, too, as you determine what’s feasible against the choices that you want to make. Where do you need to invest, or divest??

Planning and Communicating Expectations: The Six Quarter Walk?

It is so important to plan out and communicate execution expectations as part of an 18-month strategy (what I call The Six Quarter Walk). What are the applications and use cases of generative AI, and what are the implications?

This plan’s power is two-fold:?

1. It lays out in detail your strategy and planned execution over the next 18 months.??
2. It’s rolling. After the first quarter, assess your progress and determine what adjustments you need to make. Then, as you add another quarter, adjust the next five quarters.?

This ensures your strategy is constantly changing and updating, as it should—you don’t?

know how things will change when it comes to transformative disruption!? Nothing is going to go to plan—guaranteed.?

Measuring Success

I’m often asked how companies should approach KPIs with GenAI, and I always say the same thing: If you are integrating it into your business strategy, you should use the same KPIs to measure its success—everything you're doing with AI supports that!??

Of course, there will be some tactical metrics involved in using generative AI to ensure that it operates at the level you want it to, but those are operating metrics.

There is so much to say about each of these components of the strategic planning process, and I’ll discuss them more in the coming weeks.?

Looking for more?

I love helping people with their strategy planning. If you’re looking for some support with that, consider the following ways I could work with you:?

1. Educate your executive team and board of directors on the strategic impact of generative AI.
2. Create custom training programs to raise AI literacy
3. Advise and coach executives on leading through the AI disruption
4. Speak at upcoming employee or customer events to inspire AI adoption.?

Learn more at charleneli.com or email me at [email protected]. And while you’re at it:

?? Sign up for updates and early access to my upcoming book, co-authored by Katia Walsh, which is all about creating a winning generative AI strategy.

?? Join me at Elevate by Future of HR, a 3-week virtual program for next-gen HR leaders.? The program dates are October 8-10, 15-17, and 22-24, and registration is available here.?

?? Catch my most recent webinars:

• “Unlocking The Power of Generative AI.” I explain how to set up a generative AI “playground,” three ways to elevate your leadership with step-by-step instructions, and the broad outlines of creating a strategy. Get the recording and slides here.

• “Developing a Winning Generative AI Strategy for Competitive Advantage.” I walk through the steps needed to create a cohesive, lasting AI strategy. Get the recording and slides here.?

Your Turn

How are you thinking about approaching strategic planning in your organization? How have you done it in the past, how will you do it this year, and how will you incorporate GenAI?