#32 How to make business strategy simple

How can you make business strategy simple? That's the guiding question in this podcast episode.

The best way, of course, is with our book "Hope Is Not a Strategy." Inside you'll find practical instructions for getting things done. It simplifies the strategy process and gives you the perfect foundation to get started. Learning by doing is a core part of the book, so you can move into action with ease. In this episode we introduce our book, which comes out on November 23, 2022. Get your copy now.

Christian Underwood on LinkedIn Prof. Jürgen Weigand on LinkedIn Order the book Hope Is Not a Strategy now

The time has finally come. Our book "Hope Is Not a Strategy" comes out on November 23, 2022. In this post you'll learn why it's a different kind of Strategy Book, one that has never existed in this form, and why it's a must-have if you work on strategy or are interested in it.

The book is written for everyone who

is interested in strategy makes strategy thinks strategically wants to act strategically.

It speaks to people in large corporations, mid-sized companies and even startups. Because strategy concerns everyone.

It matters a lot to us to give you a book that you don't just read, but that moves you straight into execution. We don't leave you alone with the theory. You get the combined experience and practical knowledge of the two of us, Christian and Jürgen. We thought hard about how to make strategy usable for you without you losing the appetite to actually execute once you've finished reading.

"Hope Is Not a Strategy" isn't a theory book, it's a workbook. Because execution only happens when you're ready to do the work. The book makes getting into strategy as simple as it can possibly be. Alongside the book there's also a brilliant piece of software that simplifies the strategy process even further and keeps you motivated to see it through. More on that in a moment.

Many CEOs and managing directors need a strategic framework. We put ours into English and called it the StrategyFrame®.

It gives you confidence and lays strategy out visually, so you understand what strategy actually consists of.

The strategy process has three fundamental elements:

strategy formulation strategy execution evaluation of the results.

But what do those three points mean in practice? Which questions should you be asking yourself? Which topics need to be addressed, when and how? The StrategyFrame® puts the strategy process into a logically structured sequence. It's important to understand that it isn't a linear process, something that often gets forgotten in execution. The StrategyFrame® brings you back again and again to reflect on where you stand and whether things have drifted because the environment has changed.

Specifically, the StrategyFrame® workflow breaks down into 8 steps:

Plan Analyze Focus and make decisions in a strategy workshop Adapt the organization to the new model Strategy execution:

Cascade (bring in the people responsible for the strategy process early) Transform (communicate the change to the organization, make the goals and the exact transformation clear and understandable) Experiment (execution is always an experiment, since companies never operate in a market alone but face competition) Adjust (adapt to change)

Our book helps you establish routines within this workflow, so you don't slip into a kind of controlling exercise for your strategy but instead adjust the steps sensibly as you go.

Wherever the book raises key points you should work on concretely, guiding questions and plenty of space to write support you in executing and deepening the work process.

Developing a routine for your strategy is crucial. The book reminds you at the right moment to ask your guiding questions, so you don't lose focus.

The 8-step workflow isn't meant to be linear, so you can dive straight into the step that's relevant for you right now.

The perfect companion to the book is the StrategyFrame® software, which follows the workflow steps in the book. It gives you supporting knowledge, illustrates each step even more precisely and provides templates to fill in, so you can work on the StrategyFrame® directly.

The digital platform lets you work on your strategy on your own or with your team, without Excel or PowerPoint.

The book runs 300 pages. The deadlines set by the publisher helped us a lot in staying focused. Our goal was to be part of a book fair. So we dedicated this summer to the book and spent night after night finishing it. We made it! We're very proud and very glad. The English translation is already underway and is scheduled for May 2023.

Our thanks go to our publisher, our editor Patrick Ludwig and Eva Zimmermann, who translated our ideas into visuals with her graphics. Do you want to get your copy of "Hope Is Not a Strategy"?Hereyou can preorder it now.