It’s only early September, but the swallows that have been swooping across the fields of our village all summer have already left for Africa. They must have seen next week’s weather forecast!
It’s a time of change for our family, too. Our two older sons, who both graduated from university in June, are moving out. Archie has a graduate job in Manchester, while Dylan is moving to live and work in Toronto in a couple of weeks’ time. Meanwhile, Louis, our youngest son, has just got his A-Levels results and is off to university.
All of this means that my Scythia and I are about to become empty nesters. Bringing up our boys has been a wonderful experience, but we’re now excited about what’s next. To make the most of the opportunity, however, we need to think through how we want our lives to change.
With my clients, I see three types of strategy, which I call the 3Rs:
- Refinement. All strategies need continual refinement, but sometimes the level of change required can be relatively small, at least in the short term.
- Renewal. Strategic renewal is not a complete transformation, but it does demand significant changes to either ‘where you play’ and/or ‘how you win’. For example, the decision by Greggs’ management 20 years ago to move from being a regional bakery chain found on local high streets, to becoming a national chain of food-on-the-go, in competition with McDonalds, has transformed its financial performance.
- Reinvention. Unlike strategic renewal, strategic reinvention means fundamentally changing the direction of your business and requires a distinctively different set of assets, capabilities and advantages. In 2001, for instance, Whitbread moved away from its 250-year brewing heritage by selling its breweries (believing that the company could no longer compete effectively against the industry’s brewing giants) and focusing, instead, on its burgeoning hotel (Premier Inn) and coffee shop (Costa) businesses.
Given the changes in our life, it’s now a time of renewal – but not necessarily reinvention – for Scythia and me. But what level of strategic change should your company be considering this autumn?
Off The Record: When September Ends by Green Day
Summer has come and passed,
The innocent can never last,
Wake me up when September ends.
Ring out the bells again,
Like we did when Spring began,
Wake me up when September ends.