The second road of thought: how design offers strategy a new toolkit

Abstract

Purpose – Traditional approaches to strategy have failed to deliver the hoped for benefits of transformation in too many cases. They do not engage people and they do not foster inventive thinking. This paper aims to declare an exciting new alternative called “strategic conversations” based on the symbiotic disciplines of design and conversation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper develops the new approach through the twin arms of theory and practice. The theory is that the Western world bought the wrong thinking system from Aristotle. It has become seduced by the art of analytics and consequently strategy has become an analytic art. However, Aristotle ' s art for transformation was not analytics but rhetoric which is the ancient forebear of design. Strategy in ancient Greece was an art of rhetoric not an analytic science. The paper pursues how a strategic process built on rhetoric would work based on a major case study from the Australian Navy. Findings – The case study illustrates the practical success of this new approach. It is one of hundreds of such assignments that the author ' s firm has accomplished. The success is measured against three key factors: a growth in agency or shared intent across multiple players; development of possibilities or new options for actions; and the emergence of a community of action. Practical implications – This approach suggests a major shift in the strategy process, and in leadership skills, towards design and conversation. Originality/value – The core theory underpinning the paper of the “Two roads to truth” is stunning and broadly applicable approach to thinking skills. A very small group of academics understand the significance of rhetoric, but this paper applies it much more broadly to business and organizations, in a pioneering way.