I am still working on the right way to explain my thinking about strategic planning. Here's my latest metaphor: strategic planning is like a patch to an old computer operating system. Sure, it makes things work a little better, but it can't overcome the fundamental flaws of the aging operating system, and you'll be operating at reduced capacity until you have the guts to do the full operating system upgrade.
The good news is, unlike Windows, you can create your own strategic operating system. And when you build it correctly, you simply don’t need the patch. Really. In the new operating system, strategy doesn't happen the way it used to. You don't need a new version of strategic planning (the patch), you need to change the way you run your organization so your people are empowered to be strategic.
