“Every day as leaders, we have three boxes on our desk,” write editors Howard Morgan, Phil Harkins, and Marshall Goldsmith in their book, The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secrets (John Wiley & Sons, 2005). Box 1 is for managing the present. Box 2 is for selectively abandoning the past. Box 3 is for creating the future. As they explain, many organizations spend most of their time in Box 1 and call it strategy. However, in reality, strategy is really about Box 2 and Box 3. Still, Box 1 overwhelms most leaders and they never have time or space for the work of Box 2 or Box 3.
The first important thing to realize about strategy is that the day strategy is introduced into the organization is the day it starts to die The only question is how fast.
Time marches on in the world of strategic planning and execution, and markets evolve and change quickly as we have witnessed over the last couple of years. Recognizing the decay rate of strategy means we need to keep our eye on all three boxes, and, at the same time, realize that Box 2 and Box 3 have a significant impact on what is taking place in Box 1.
The second thing to realize about strategy is that a company’s strategies are almost entirely transparent today to competitors and potential customers. The ease with which strategy can be imitated and commoditized makes it nearly impossible to stay ahead of the competition. As Edson De Castro, CEO of Data General, wrote in 1978: “Few corporations are able to participate in the next wave of change, because they are blinded by the business at hand.” For us here today, it is only by staying innovative at the strategic and the operational levels that we can be successful over time.
The third thing to realize about strategy is that strategy impacts communication. It can confuse people and/or overwhelm people. Or it can give people at all levels the tools and perspective to redefine the ideas that shape their choices and actions on a daily basis. Furthermore, strategy can create language for people to solve problems and improve decision making up and down the organization. Finally, strategy can provide meaning as well as guidance to the work of the organization. All of this happens when strategy is explained and understood.
The three boxes on our desks are not going away any time soon. Now is the month when we must not let everything happening in Box 1 overwhelm us and define what we think is strategy. Now is the time to work on Box 2 and Box 3 if we want to be well positioned for the coming 1 - 3 years.
© Geery Howe 2025
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