The strategy of David Maister and the fat smoker

Like the title of David Maister’s next book The strategy and the fat smoker suggests, the problem is not that we don’t know what to do, it’s that we know and choose to ignore. Based on a series of articles written and posted online, Maister’s latest offering promises a dose of “real” strategy: “Real strategy is not figuring out what to do, but devising ways to ensure that, compared to others let’s really do it.” more than everyone knows they should.” In other words, it’s about implementation, and that’s the focus of the book. Organized into sections related to how organizations should think about strategy, customers (including marketing and sales) and management, Strategy and the Fat Smoker is aimed at those who understand that knowing without doing brings little value.

I started by reading the introductory chapters on strategy. Several gems jump out at you, including:

If you really want to be successful (and many people don’t want it bad enough for it to happen) then you must never settle, never give up, never cost, never simply accept what is, even if you are currently performing at a high level. . .

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[T]The main result of strategic planning should not be an analytical vision or smart decisions, but a superior resolution to achieve something.

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The best way to approach this reassessment [of the organization’s purpose, mission, vision and values] it’s starting with a very small inner circle of senior leaders, who can look each other in the eye and ask, “Are these really the decision rules that we as leaders are willing to abide by?”

Maister invites readers to dive into any chapter, and after I understood his approach to strategy, I dove into Chapter 17: The Lawyer Trouble. Maister’s preface to this chapter indicates that he originally wrote it to explain “why lawyers and law firms are different from other professions,” but that others in the financial services and consulting industry identify with the culture and behavior that Maister attributes to the legal profession. Almost any lawyer reading this chapter will recognize that Maister is speaking to us. He highlights four problems that prevent “lawyers from functioning effectively in groups:”

• trust issues;
• difficulties with ideology, values ​​and principles;
• professional detachment; Y
• unusual approaches to decision-making (referring to the propensity of lawyers to attack any presented idea to pinpoint and highlight its weaknesses, with the result that “within a short time most ideas, no matter who initiates them, will be destroyed, discarded, or postponed for future review”).

Having identified and explained these quirks, Maister asks why lawyers do so well financially if the profession is plagued with these problems, and his answer is tested by the step-by-step approach that firms tend to apply to innovation:

The biggest advantage lawyers have is that they compete only with other lawyers. If everyone else does equally poorly, and customers and recruits find little variation across companies, even the most egregious behavior won’t lead to competitive disadvantage.

Maister suggests that only client pressure is likely to force firms to start acting “like firms: providing ongoing service, practice areas that have depth (and not just a collection of individualistic stars), and true teamwork.” cross-border”. Having come to understand some of the issues that have so far prevented that will help companies adapt as customer pressure is applied.

Other chapters of Strategy and the Fat Smoker also apply to lawyers and firms. The book does an excellent job of delivering on its subtitled promise of teaching organizations and individuals to do “what is obvious but not easy.” It is readable, practical and insightful.