The Emergent Approach to Strategy

Adaptive design and execution for change and innovation

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Emergent Approach is a new theory and practice of strategy built on an adaptive view of change and innovation in contrast to “planning” the future.

Why is a book on strategy needed? And other FAQs…

SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK

Chapter supplements: appendixes, additional examples
5 Task Sets: a guidebook for implementation of the approach
Templates: for use in strategy materials
The Five Disqualifiers: added examples

BOOK SUPPLEMENT

THE FIVE DISQUALIFIERS of strategy

Strategy-testing is a time-honored practice, and some traditional tests of strategy are well known, for instance, those offered by Michael Porter and McKinsey consulting. Traditional tests, however, are not usually tests of strategy; they are tests of entire frameworks that contain in addition to the strategy, also goals, plans, tactics, scenarios, metrics, and other diagnosis of the internal and external world you will operate in. The Five Disqualifiers are a new set of strategy tests. SEE THE DISQUALIFIERS >

About the author

Peter Compo is a corporate business veteran, scientist, and musician who spent twenty-five years at E. I. DuPont in diverse leadership positions, including director of corporate integrated business planning. READ MORE >

For too long, we have been observing organizations with great strategic plans that forget to “implement” strategy. As a result, they over plan and under deliver. Worse, they often don’t see the bottlenecks—the slow-go points—impeding their progress. Compo shows how to use bottlenecks as a focal point where tension can be used creatively in his open and contingent approach to strategy design.

Shaun Coffey, Director for Capacity Building, The Crawford Fund for a Food Secure World

Hear my discussion with Jim Beach’s School for Startups Radio podcast, Episode June 8, 2022

We discuss why a strategy is a central rule and not just a long-term plan, how the emergent approach resonates with Jim’s many entrepreneurial experiences, and how to get started with the Emergent Approach to Strategy.