by Rick Baker
On Aug 19, 2010
My friend Terry De Witte says that. I mean, he says “strategic first, creative when necessary, and always specific”.
The last time he said it, I said I planned to write a blog about it.
Now, the challenge is – I didn’t ask Terry to explain what he means when he says “strategic first, creative when necessary, and always specific”.
I intentionally didn’t ask him to explain what he meant because some thoughts came to mind quickly and I wanted to test if the initial thoughts I received were similar to or different from the message he was trying to deliver.
So, Terry will have the right to veto everything to follow.
“Strategic first, creative when necessary, and always specific”
- Strategic first: This resonated because the first time I read them I borrowed Napoleon Hill’s words ‘Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan’. While the thoughts have more texture than a simple sequence that starts with planning and follows with working, the guidance of plan first then work later is solid. And strategic planning is the elite business function…it envelopes the other business functions. It is tough to argue with the wisdom of doing at least a little strategic planning ahead. It would be unwise to ignore advice such as this, which comes in so many forms [and I will spare you from those forms and clichés…except for mentioning ‘Measure twice and Cut once’].
- Creative when necessary: My immediate thoughts were ‘don’t make change for the sake of change’ and ‘don’t fear change’. Also, Seek Simple….Seeking Simple is one of my philosophies. Sometimes very simple solutions are unhidden yet unseen right before our eyes. We don’t see them because we are seeking the complex. Sometimes we are seeking the complex because we feel a need to create…we place a high value on creativity. And, sometimes the perception of that high value clouds our ability to Seek Simple. Putting it another way, often creativity is overkill. However, we better be creative when necessary. We must take a balanced approach to creativity.
- and always specific: Again, my immediate thought was a lesson learned from Napoleon Hill. Napoleon Hill taught 11 Major Attributes of Leadership. Attribute 9 is “MASTERY OF DETAIL. Successful leadership calls for mastery of details of the leader’s position.” Carrying that to another level, most achievements of significance require mastery of details. We are more efficient and more effective when we master the specifics: examples include specifics of process, specifics about people, specifics of communication, and, of course, specifics about ourselves.
OK Terry – how did I do?
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