Thoughts from last week...
•Brainstorming is defined as “a group problem-solving technique that involves the spontaneous contribution of ideas from all members of the group.”
•In brainstorming, a good idea is not necessarily one that has worked before.
•Creativity stretches the brain’s capability and brings out the divine image component of human beings.
•“All ideas are in” is part of the philosophy of inventors and innovators.
•A great idea that is not activated does not acquire its true value whereas a weaker idea that is activated is more productive.
•Intelligence without intensity and application is more destructive than creative.
I have found the Nine Strategic Questions useful in thinking about corporate strategy. These questions enable organizations paint a strategy picture from start to finish. The first question addresses the simple but significant issue of the strategic time horizon. The nine questions are outlined below:
1.    How far down the road will we look (our time horizon)?
2.    What are our assumptions about the market, the competition, regulation, the economy and other factors in our external environment?
3.    What are our fundamental values and beliefs?
4.    What products and services will we and will we not offer during this time horizon?
5.    What markets will we and will we not serve during this time horizon?
6.    What products and services will receive the greatest emphasis?
7.    What are our competitive advantages (i.e. how will we win)?
8.    What capabilities (skills, processes, facilities and equipment) will we need to fulfill this vision?
9.    What financial and non-financial measures will we use to assess our strategic performance?
These questions are documented in the publications of Kepner Tregoe, a global management consulting firm. They emphasize the fact that strategy design is always a series of questions that a corporate entity should answer to determine a future direction. The answers to strategic questions represent the strategy which in turn provides a platform for execution. The Genesis Strategy Model and the Creation Story from which it is derived outlines most of these questions in its Strategy Builder format. I outline below the twelve broad strategy builders and which will be described in detail as the Model unfolds.
1.    What’s the chaos in your business?
a.    What in your business doesn’t have a clear form?
b.    Where are the voids in your business?
c.    Where is there darkness in your business?
2.    What’s the vision of your business?
3.    What’s the “heaven” in your business? (What are your competitive advantages or which ones do you want to build?)
4.    What’s your “under” and “above”?
5.    What are the products or services of the company? 
a.    What needs do they meet?
6.    What would be the “sun” of the business? (What should be the areas of emphasis?)
7.    Who are the customers of your business? (Type, industry and location)
a.    What are their typical needs?
8.    Who are the closest or preferred customers of your business?
a.    What special ways have you designed to meet their needs and increase their patronage? 
9.    Which part of your market will you dominate?
10.    How will the employees bear the image of your business?
11.    What rest objectives do you want to set for your business?
a.    What will be your measures of rest do you want to set?  
b.    What are your targets of rest?
12.    What external competitive benchmarks do we want to set or be guided by?
An important aspect of strategy is the generation of new concepts and insights. The newness of strategy is expressed in new ideas, services, products or markets which emerge from strategic thinking processes. The Genesis Strategy Model builds on this philosophy with strategic insights from the Creation Story. These insights serve as preludes to the strategy builders. Let me preview strategic insights from the Creation Story which are included in the Genesis Strategy Model are:
•Every business has a beginning.
•God put order on the earth before creation actually commenced. Order of thought process is needed for strategy.
•…Creativity overcomes chaos. Design of strategy requires creativity.
•Strategy begins with illumination. Every good business should be illuminated with vision.
•Darkness or night indicates no-go areas, things that are out of bounds or the boundaries within which the business operates.
•Boundaries are best defined in the form of values or guiding principles.
•The “under” are weaknesses and threats – they can put the business under if not eliminated or managed. “Above” reflects the strengths and opportunities – they can take the business to the top if well exploited.
•The earth and seas are sources and givers of life and fruitfulness. Seeds and plants produce and reproduce life. These elements of creation are pointers to the products and services of a business.
•The sun, moon and stars vary in their illuminating intensity.
•The sun shines the brightest, followed by the moon and then the stars.
•Businesses often have sun, moon and stars in their range of products and services.