Growing the Top Line

CHAPTER 12Select Growth Pathways: Step 4: Decide Which Route to Take

Situational awareness is a term used in the military. It’s sort of the warfighter equivalent of emotional IQ. For growth strategy development you can meet savants of strategy, people who have the immediate understanding of a situation and the right path to take to achieve goals. In the military it might be battlefield awareness, where a commander in theatre can see the path to victory. While this is a great skill to possess, you can use the Four Key Questions to come to the same intuitive conclusions that an experienced strategist would reach.

Imagine yourself on a battlefield. You have a goal – the mission. We defined that in the first step of our process. You look over your shoulder and see your troops. They are in formation, or in disarray. They are armed with machine guns or with rocks. The veterans are quiet in disciplined preparation, and the newbies laughing nervously as they face their first battle. Then you look forward. The ground is barren and flat, or it is urban and filled with pedestrians. It’s dry and warm, or cold and covered in snow. In the distance, you can see the foe. It is a large army, or a rag tag band of fighters. They are beautifully arrayed, or in tatters. They have missiles, or spears. You know how they have fought battles before . . . And they stand between you and your objective. ...