Thread

Compass rather than five-year plan

This thread is a recurring scepticism about rigid, glossy strategic plans. The alternative is a clear direction, a few priorities and rolling adjustment. Daniel holds this view himself and several guests share it. Others insist that good process, socialisation and deliberate planning still matter.

How it developed: Early episodes attack rigid plans. Later guests qualify this: plans need conversation, and improvisation without thought fails. By E33 Daniel lands on short, directional plans refreshed continually.

The thread's title and description are AI-written, drawn from the episodes below. The quotations are verbatim from the episode audio, each linked to the moment it was said.

What was said

“And I think a better way to somehow do that is to capture those things with a broad strategic direction, rather than actually a plan that actually tries to nail down and predict the future, which as we know is unpredictable.”
— Daniel Atlin, guest · Getting Messy with Daniel Atlin · [26:27]
“The other thing that I think was happening was that strategic planning itself became the product.”
— Vivek Goel, guest · The doctor will see you now | Dr. Vivek Goel on Leadership and AI · [11:51]
“my strategic plan was simply, I wanted to be the best at something that mattered to society.”
— Sheldon Levy, guest · No Risk, No Reward - Innovators Needed | Sheldon Levy · [29:50]
“I've learned through experience how important that is, that strategic plans, if they come from, you know, the kind of oracle at the top of the organization, has a brilliant idea without sufficient socialization and without sufficient, opportunity for conversation and input, they'll be dead on arrival.”
— Meric Gertler, guest · Universities at the Boundary | Meric Gertler · [36:16]
“And we probably should have taken our more time and just take a deep breath and put up with the criticism that we weren't rushing back and, you know, tried to, tried to figure out a, a plan rather than make it up, you know, on the fly,”
— David Agnew, guest · What others see as messes, some see opportunities | David Agnew · [09:47]
“instead it's better to have a strategic plan that's, maybe three years long, and maybe it's actually directional with, with three, or four different sort of, sort of key things,”
— Daniel Atlin, guest · Making Sense In the Mess: Leadership for a Turbulent Time · [18:25]

Episodes in this thread

All topics and episodes of Messy with Daniel Atlin