YOUR STRATEGY NEEDS 2 TYPES OF PEOPLE

Strategies, when executed to a perfect blend, can even end a World War. This is why organisations and corporations put considerable value on effective strategic planning whether it be conforming, deviant, or a mixture of both. In this article, the authors emphasise the essence of managing and synchronising two types of strategists in a company.

Strategic renewal is often fostered by internal tensions, rule breaking, and deviations from the formulated strategic plan. The strategic necessity of internal conflict is best illustrated by a classic story from Hewlett Packard. In the early 1980s, David Packard awarded a Medal of Defiance to Charles had persistently pursued a project on a large-screen electrostatic monitor that the management team had ordered him to abandon. Charles believed in the project and continued to work on it despite managerial orders to stop. In the end, the project "planted the seeds for a new market" and HP acknowledged the necessity of maverick behavior by praising Charles for his rule-breaking work, as his strategic defiance was needed to counteract complacency and bureaucracy. In so doing, HP allowed for the strategy to be challenged.