Conventional approaches to strategic planning do not work well to meet the complex challenges we face today. The reason is simple. Strategic planning does not work in open networks. Strategic doing provides a new discipline for developing and implementing strategy within the loose networks that characterize our communities and regions. Where strategic planning is slow, linear and costly, strategic doing is fast, iterative and inexpensive. Strategic doing is catching on because people can understand it, apply it, and have fun, as they move their ideas into action.

1. STRATEGIC DOING
A NEW DISCIPLINE FOR DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING
STRATEGY IN LOOSE REGIONAL NETWORKS
!
ANZRSAI CONFERENCE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
HERVEY BAY, AUSTRALIA
ED MORRISON
DECEMBER 2013
!1

2. The Context

3. Flat Earth Moment 1
Mazda Manufacturing Complex
Hiroshima, Japan
1983

4. Flat Earth Moment 2
High tech optic factory run by
Chinese military
1991

5. Flat Earth Moment 3
Internet tutorial by MIT physicist
1993

6. The Emergence of Strategic Doing

8. Strategic Planning….A lot of thinking
…Very little doing

9. Strategic Planning: Built for a hierarchy

10. Strategic Doing….Built for open networks

11. The Starting Point….What’s a Strategy?

14. The Proof Points

15. Proof Point 1
Adjusting to globalization in rural Kentucky
Measurable progress in 18 of 23 counties
Ohio
Edmonson
Spencer Owen Scott
Fayette
Green
Lewis
Estill
Muhlenberg
Greenup
Morgan
Union
McCracken
Pike
Caldwell
Mercer
Hopkins
Hart
Metcalfe
Adair
Rockcastle
Knox

16. Proof Point 2
Santa Fe Parking Garage,
Oklahoma City, 1993

17. Proof Point 2
Oklahoma City
Today
Photo by: Luke Barrett

18. Proof Point 3
Development of the
Charleston Digital Corridor
Ernest Andrade
Chief Designer
Charleston Digital Corridor

19. Proof Point 4
Workforce Innovations
4 Focus Areas: 60+ Collaborations
Scalable
Replicable
Sustainable

20. Small Business Vitality Rankings, 2011
1. Austin
!
2. Oklahoma City
!
3. Charleston, SC
Source: Business Journal Digital Network
April 11, 2011

22. Proof Point 5
Demand for strategic doing keeps growing

23. The Lessons

24. Lesson 1
Innovating networks take time and trust to evolve

25. Lesson 2
Open innovation evolves in stages

26. Lesson 3
Innovating networks depend on tight cores,
porous boundaries and boundary spanners

27. Lesson 4
Strategy in open networks is a collective discipline
that takes practice to master

28. Lesson 5
We move in the direction of our conversations

29. Lesson 6
Moving words into action builds trust

30. Lesson 7
To innovate in open networks, civility is not
optional

31. Thank You
Ed Morrison
edmorrison@purdue.edu