Strategic Thinking & Strategic Action

Fostering strategic thinking and strategic action by organizational leaders since 2007.

Your pricing says it all… But what does it say?
Strategy Lee Crumbaugh Strategy Lee Crumbaugh

Your pricing says it all… But what does it say?

If your business is typical of many that I work with, your customer list is a collection of those customers who fit your ideal client avatar and those who don’t. The ones who don’t deliver you enough revenue, or who resist paying a higher, more realistic price, or who are a pain to serve likely are in your customer portfolio because of one of two reasons: Either when you started out you didn’t really know who you wanted or were best equipped to serve. Or you took them on because you needed revenue and customers and you felt that you could not be picky. (Anyone breathing who offered you money looked great!)

Sound familiar?

The fundamental concept to get your head around if your customer base does not align with the ideal customer you are seeking is that of price positioning.

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Is excellence - or failure - ahead? Answer five questions to know
Strategy Lee Crumbaugh Strategy Lee Crumbaugh

Is excellence - or failure - ahead? Answer five questions to know

We all would prefer to be involved with a business that is excellent rather than one that is in shambles, heading for failure. As a strategist who has worked on improving businesses of all stripes over five decades, I am happy to offer my prescription of what to focus on to take a business to the next level, to move toward excellence, rather than toward mediocracy or even failure. I propose asking five overarching questions as part of an organizational assessment.

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Bridge the strategy gap
Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh

Bridge the strategy gap

With the recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in nearby Baltimore, bridges are on my mind.

Given my romance with epic bridges, it is no surprise that I have often likened creating a strategic plan to building a bridge to the future.

I have used the bridge analogy for years. As president of the Association for Strategic Planning (now the International Association for Strategy Professionals), more than a decade ago I started my quest to bridge what I (and others) called “the strategy gap.”

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Desirable difficulties
Strategic thinking Lee Crumbaugh Strategic thinking Lee Crumbaugh

Desirable difficulties

Too often I see organizations and leaders take the easy road, the worn path, the usual course, going with the flow. The organizations and leaders I work with should not expect me to endorse that approach to business (or life). There is a direct line between difficulty and achievement, whether for athletes or business people. The easy road is almost never that direct line (ignoring the element of luck).

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Business model question: Produce or provide?
Strategic thinking Lee Crumbaugh Strategic thinking Lee Crumbaugh

Business model question: Produce or provide?

When designing (or redesigning) how the organization works, consider the question of production versus provision. The organization’s underlying business model is designed to deliver products or services to customers, to create and capture value. But there is no reason that the starting assumption should be that the organization is the entity that creates the services that it delivers.

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How to build commitment to change, revisited
Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh Strategic planning Lee Crumbaugh

How to build commitment to change, revisited

Implementing a strategic plan by executing action steps is a large-scale organizational change process. However logical and essential the change seems to those driving it, others will resist change and be a barrier to successful implementation. Gaining and maintaining commitment to the plan and its implementation is a critical step.

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Demand a great brand!
Strategy Lee Crumbaugh Strategy Lee Crumbaugh

Demand a great brand!

I have been editing the second edition of the seminal book on strategy for strategy professionals, Strategy in the 21st Century, written by my friend and professional colleague Randy Rollinson. It references developing a clear brand as a key driver of strategic success. Amen! That echoes what I know: Success demands great strategy and a great brand.

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22 principles I have learned from being an athlete
Success Lee Crumbaugh Success Lee Crumbaugh

22 principles I have learned from being an athlete

This post speaks to what I see as the strategies,habits and actions taken over time that lead to improvement and success. In essence, I believe that what it takes for long-term success in sport applies equally well to success in business and other walks of life. Over 57 years of athletics - running, triathlon, biking, swimming, spin classes, abs workouts, speed skating, golf, tennis and even some sailing - wisdom accrues. As a strategy consultant and business coach, I constantly find myself applying what I have learned from being an athlete to my work improving organizations and coaching decision makers. Here are 22 principles that have stuck with me as a result of decades of training, competing and coaching.

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