SMF February Newsletter

Our collaboration with office design experts Steelcase began in November last year with the first in the Tomorrow's Work Series of events. It looked at Culture Change. Last week we ran the second event the New Leader for the knowledge economy. Roundtable events were our initial plan, but demand exceeded expectations from the start. The first event attracted double the number of expected delegates and the second event was attended by nearly three times the number we initially expected.

Steelcase executive Vincent Guillon said, "I was genuinely pleased with the quality of the speakers and topics reviewed, which lived up to expectations, and beyond. It was also very encouraging to have so many questions and quality discussions - a sign of our attendees' engagement. The fact that we all were still engaged after 10 pm tells me the networking seems to have been pretty good too!"

The Strategic Management Forum is delighted to announce the next event in the Tomorrow's Work Series. It will be a very special event taking place in London on March 13th and will explore the insights of Gillian Tett of the Financial Times; Prof. Roger Martin, long-term advisor to the CEO of Procter and Gamble and Professor at Rotman Business School, and Professor Heidi Gardner of Harvard Law School. The topic is Making the Knowledge Economy Work. Details

INTRODUCTION TO VALUEISM WORKSHOP

McKinsey and Company research shows most businesses and organisations cannot articulate how they create value. That means they don't have an effective strategy or strategic management process. Last year I coined the term Valueism, to describe a form of capitalism and business focused on value creation.

Growth, profitability and maximising shareholder returns are seen as measures of performance in most businesses, and by most investors, The indicators that matter to them are market share, margins and share price. But they are the by-products of creating value, not the drivers of it. And they represent very poor indicators of the ability of the business to create value in the future.

For 2017 I have developed an Introduction to Valueism Workshop to outline an approach that differs radically from the current management theories and practices. It looks at value creation as the driver of an integrated Value Scheme, and as the means of structuring and managing an organisation and it's growth. It views strategic management as a way of thinking, linked to a dynamic iterative process.

Workshops are limited to a maximum of 30 delegates and are open to members and non-members. Book Your Place Now For March 20th 

The workshop will be followed by a free to attend SMF Social - a monthly networking event new for 2017 (see below).

SMF SOCIALS

The SMF Strategy Social will be on Monday 20th March in London. And, subject to interest, they will be held on the 20th of each month thereafter. We'll also launch them in other locations where we have a member or group of members, willing to coordinate the events. They will be held in a public bar, similar venue, or a sponsoring business or organisation. Any formal proceedings will be very brief and there will be no hard selling. The events are intended to be a gathering of people with shared interests. A nominal charge will help reduce no-shows, making it easier for us to manage the event. Tickets for March 20th

THE FIRST FOCUS GROUPS (THINK TANKS)

Recently I reviewed the list of people that expressed an interest in joining the first Focus Group over lunch with David Landsman, Executive Director at Tata Limited and Chairman Tata Europe Network Forum. David will be Chairman of the Strategic Importance of Reputation Focus Group.

The research-based Focus Groups (Think Tanks) will be led by an Advisory Committee of experts and an independent chair. They will work in 8 teams focused on 8 broad themes, to organise 8 events over 2 years, and author a series of 8 books. All the output will contribute to our body of knowledge and practice of the SMF, which will be led by a special focus group.

We were looking to attract 24 experts in various aspects of reputation development and management to work in groups of three on each of the eight topics; to lead on the event design and to co-author a book in the series. A request for expressions of interest attracted more than double the 24 people we hoped for. The expressions came from many countries, and the vast majority were from very experienced experts.

Within the next few days, we will be contacting everyone who expressed an interest in being on the team to let them know if they have been selected. The selection process aimed to achieve a balance of practitioner, consultant and academic expertise. For this reason, anyone not selected to be on the advisory committee should not be too disappointed, and we hope everyone will want to actively participate in the programme.

Very soon, I will be repeating this process to get the other first few groups established. If you would like to mnow more about Focus groups email [email protected]

THE FACULTY

When Clayton Christensen and his co-authors said the consulting industry is ripe for disruption in a Harvard Business Review article a couple of years ago, I had to agree. And I agreed because I already had plans to establish a firm that would be a disrupter.

It has taken some time to develop my thinking and the model, as those who have been close to the process know too well. This all culminated recently in the launch of the Faculty of Independent Strategic Management Experts (FOISME).

FOISME will evolve as global faculty of independent experts with expertise in specialist areas of strategic management. They operate as advisors, coaches, mentors, training providers, authors and speakers etc. They work with businesses and organisations of all types across all sectors, including the commercial, non-commercial and government sectors. Every expert has at least a decade of senior-level experience and must be a Fellow of the Strategic Management Forum.

About a week ago I wrote an article for Linkedin Pulse, "Consulting on the Road to Disruption". It explained the context to the introduction of FOISME, and in just over a week it has been read several thousand times, commented on, and shared a lot. It clearly struck a nerve and the thinking has had much support. You can find out more on the website: www.FOISME.com

BUSINESS HARD TALK

In the second half of 2016, I made a soft launch of Business Hard Talk, an alternative channel for the publication of articles that tackle tough issues. Initially, I contributed most of the content. From 2017 it will scale-up, become multi-media and include content from other contributors. We'll also be running live events later in the year. Have you taken a look and signed up? Many articles are linked to discussions in our Linkedin Group. Are you signed up to our Linkedin group?

FORTHCOMING BOOKS

By the end of last year, I had almost finished all the interviews for the Sages of Strategic Management. The interviews have been very interesting and I am have made progress writing the book. It will be published by Wiley later this year. The supporting website is already available, and the book is available to pre-order on Amazon.

The Enlightened Enterprise Manifesto will follow later in the year and will be published by Palgrave Macmillan. Again, it will be based on interviews. This time with the business owners and visionary advisors and thought leaders providing "a vision of Tomorrows' Company". I have already started the interviews, but there are several more people I still want to interview.

A third book, to be published in 2018/19 is a textbook on strategic management for Oxford University Press.