A talk given at the APG Noisy Thinking event in March 2015 on the subject of 21st Century strategy

1. MULLET
STRATEGY
@neilperkin
(An approach to 21st Century strategy)

2. ‘Tabloid or popular journalism is being done by the same outlets that produce the most
serious chin-stroking think-pieces. In 2005 the Huffington Post pioneered this ‘mullet
strategy’ for journalism, which looked neat and respectable at the front, wild and hairy at
the back.’ Emily Bell
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/28/emily-bells-2015-hugh-cudlipp-lecture-full-text

6. Most exciting opportunity 2015 vs ‘5 years time’
Econsultancy Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing – Digital Trends 2015

11. Everything is connected…

12. ‘neat and respectable
at the front, wild and
hairy at the back?’
MULLET
STRATEGY:

13. ‘The Experience Economy’, Joseph Pine and James Gilmore
“…all businesses will
need to orchestrate
memorable events for
their customers, and
future economic growth
lies in moving from
providing simple goods
and services toward
delivering value through
experiences and
transformations”

14. “…progressing from
delivering services to
creating platforms for
experiences for the
customers of their
clients, and finally to
guiding transformation
within the client
organisation itself and
with the relationship
that client has with its
customers.”
https://econsultancy.com/reports/the-progression-of-agency-value/

15. Delivering Services Staging Experiences Guiding Transformations
Data
Siloed data sources, basic
data analysis tools
Multichannel, Joining up
data, basic attribution,
automation
Integrated digital and
online/offline, real-time
decisions, sophisticated
analysis
Technology
Technology restricts, legacy
platforms
Agile development, software-
as-a-service tech
Customised dashboards,
scalability of the cloud,
actionable attribution
modelling
Skills
Paid media skills, vertical
skillsets, poor training
Specialists & Generalists,
Creative Technologists, Tech
skills
T-shaped, deep knowledge,
human layer over tech,
knowledge sharing
Culture
Rigid structure, Push not Pull,
Waterfall project mgt
More fluid structure,
collaborative enviroment,
more project work
Interdisciplinary, cross-
functional, small, nimble
teams. Permission to fail.
Entrepreneurial
https://econsultancy.com/reports/the-progression-of-agency-value/

16. We seem to ask ourselves this question a lot…

17. WHAT IS
STRATEGY?
We seem to ask ourselves this question a lot…

18. WHAT IS
STRATEGY?
We seem to ask ourselves this question a lot…
Don’t we know?

19. “Strategy is much more than a plan. A plan supposes a sequence of events that allows
one to move with confidence from one state of affairs to another. Strategy is required
when others might frustrate one’s plans because they have different and possibly
opposing interests and concerns… The inherent unpredictability of human affairs, due to
the chance events as well as the efforts of opponents and the missteps of friends,
provides strategy with its challenge and drama. Strategy is often expected to start with a
description of a desired end state, but in practice there is rarely an orderly movement to
goals set in advance. Instead, the process evolves through a series of states, each one
not quite what was anticipated or hoped for, requiring a reappraisal and modification of
the original strategy, including ultimate objectives. The picture of strategy… is one that is
fluid and flexible, governed by the starting point and not the end point.”
Strategy: fluid, flexible, never-ending…
Lawrence Freedman, Strategy: A History

20. “Strategy is really about
building algorithms (rules)
that help drive optimal
outcomes in decisions.”
Noah Brier
https://blog.percolate.com/2014/11/strategy-as-algorithm/

21. “Strategy is really about
building algorithms (rules)
that help drive optimal
outcomes in decisions.”
Noah Brier
https://blog.percolate.com/2014/11/strategy-as-algorithm/
But humans design those rules…

22. “Strategy is really about
building algorithms (rules)
that help drive optimal
outcomes in decisions.”
Noah Brier
https://blog.percolate.com/2014/11/strategy-as-algorithm/
But humans design those rules…
…and algorithms are constantly being updated

23. "The key questions will be: Are you good at working with intelligent machines or not?
Are your skills a complement to the skills of the computer, or is the computer doing
better without you? Worst of all, are you competing against the computer?"

24. A New Type of Business Strategy…

25. Strategy
Innovation Transformation

26. Strategy/Planning
Service/Experienc
e design Change

27. GAFA and the Vertical Stack

28. DATA

29. Opportunity at the centre (BAU, automation, efficiency, creativity) and at the
edges (emergent, design, understanding value)

30. FASHIONISTAS DIGIRATI
BEGINNERS CONSERVATIVES
http://www.capgemini-consulting.com/the-digital-advantage/

32. https://www.flickr.com/photos/deathtogutenberg/12549479325/
Stop stuff being crap

33. Neat and respectable at the front:
Staging experiences, great insight, strong
creative ideas, campaigning, joined-up, not
being crap
Wild and hairy at the back:
Continuous, responsive, guiding
transformations, experimentation, new
learning, new capability, helping marketers
to re-invent their jobs, (and not being crap)
“Strategy is not a discrete analytical event—something decided, say, in a meeting
of top managers based on the best numbers and analysis available at the time.
Rather, it is a continuous, diverse, and unruly process” Clay Christensen

34. “Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time”
Oliver Burkeman
http://www.theguardian.com/news/oliver-burkeman-s-blog/2014/may/21/everyone-is-totally-just-winging-it

35. THANK
YOU!
@neilperkin
www.onlydeadfish.co.uk
(and no, that’s not me)