Time to replace the B strategies

The steady recovery in the global travel industry is both welcome and transformative. As with all major disruptions they tend to accelerate evolutionary trends - the old way of doing things gives way to fresher thinking.

It is becoming clear to me that over many years we have seen an abundance of what I consider to be "B" grade business strategies. The 3 big B's - Bribe them, Buy them and Bully them. The them, is sometimes customers, sometimes suppliers and sometimes staff. These tactics don't seem to resonate as part of successful business plans going forward. Bribery is a sugar hit that ends as quickly as it starts, buying people seems to never get you access to their all important hearts and bullying is simply abhorrent.

So what will the A grade strategies be. Well they don't all start with A. For me they will revolve around themes of transparency, segmentation and responsibility. In our business that will translate into sharing information with "them", evaluating markets to determine who is our most aligned "them" and working collaboratively on shared goals that drive win win outcomes for us and "them".

This makes for a very imaginative and exciting future - that's what I think, what do you think?