That ‘road map’ someone wants to sell you? It won’t work.
You may have noticed a lot of companies offering up ‘road maps’ for this or that.
A ‘road map’ might get you started. It might help you not have to think about what you really need to get to where you want to be because you tell yourself that you’re on a proven path that’s worked for other people so it has to work for you. We don’t need another ‘road map’ to do this or that.
There’s a proliferation of road maps.
What companies need is a compass.
As Seth Godin wrote in his latest book, “This is Strategy”:
“A strategy isn’t a map-it’s a compass. Strategy is a better plan.” As he puts it, “Strategy is a philosophy of becoming.”
It’s a cycle- who will you become, who will you be of service to, and how will they help others to become- then they begin the cycle, and on it goes.
Everyone has access to a map. A map can get you where you want to go, but you’re going to have to do it the same way everyone else is doing it, and the problem with a map is that where you end up might not be where you want to be it's just where the road leads to.
With a compass to point you in the direction you’re heading, you can go off of the path, down a trail that hasn’t been explored. If it doesn’t work, you point your compass in the direction you are headed and you continue moving that direction.
A compass allows you to try things that might not work because if they don’t, you still know where you’re headed. You know what you want your future- the future of your business, the future for the people you seek to serve- to look like.
With a compass, you may stumble upon something you didn’t expect that changes everything.
Strategy seems like a simple concept, but it turns out to be really hard for many people to fully grasp.
It’s because we’re looking for an instruction manual specific to us that doesn’t exist.
So stop looking for road maps and, instead, search for a compass.