A former Director at a major consulting firm that I worked with told me to never talk in absolutes.
Example: "If you follow and execute these three things, your EBITDA will increase $40.2 MM."
Another example: "Based on our analysis, you could close down 3 locations."
For both of those examples, the numbers were absolute.
Consultants are good (and are paid for) providing options or strategic alternatives.
That makes sense because consultants want the executive or client to ultimately make the decision. After all, it's an industry leader's job to make decisions.
That's what he / she does.
Here's the thing though. As Raynor says in The Strategy Paradox "strategies with the greatest possibility of success also have the greatest possibility of failure."
So think about that. As much as you pay for strategy advice and a list of options and possible scenarios that could play out, you have a 50/50 chance of ANY of them working!
In the end, strategy is about preparing for what could play out and placing the right bets.
Business strategy is like playing a game of roulette and each of the numbers on the table are your options.
You want to spread your chips out as much as possible without breaking your bank account and hope that those bets pay out more than what you put down.
Good luck.
Example: "If you follow and execute these three things, your EBITDA will increase $40.2 MM."
Another example: "Based on our analysis, you could close down 3 locations."
For both of those examples, the numbers were absolute.
Consultants are good (and are paid for) providing options or strategic alternatives.
That makes sense because consultants want the executive or client to ultimately make the decision. After all, it's an industry leader's job to make decisions.
That's what he / she does.
Here's the thing though. As Raynor says in The Strategy Paradox "strategies with the greatest possibility of success also have the greatest possibility of failure."
So think about that. As much as you pay for strategy advice and a list of options and possible scenarios that could play out, you have a 50/50 chance of ANY of them working!
In the end, strategy is about preparing for what could play out and placing the right bets.
Business strategy is like playing a game of roulette and each of the numbers on the table are your options.
You want to spread your chips out as much as possible without breaking your bank account and hope that those bets pay out more than what you put down.
Good luck.
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