{"id":3701,"date":"2021-02-17T16:26:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T21:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/?p=3701"},"modified":"2021-02-17T16:56:54","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T21:56:54","slug":"the-five-flavors-of-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/the-five-flavors-of-strategy.php","title":{"rendered":"The Five Flavors of Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the chaos and confusion of the global pandemic shows distant glimpses of something less chaotic (by Fall, or Winter, or Spring, or…), the question of “strategy” is emerging once again. In the freefall and free-for-all of the past eleven months, arts organizations necessarily spent most available time on survival and rapid innovation. Long looks forward were replaced by week-to-week cash flow projections and a frantic paddle toward solid ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Maarten van den Heuvel<\/a> via Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now that more boards, executive and artistic leaders, staff members, and constituents are making space to imagine the “next normal,” it’s worth remembering what “strategy” actually is and does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many, “strategy” is conceived and defined in the classic, corporate or military frame: “a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.” Forward-looking, intentional, stepwise, aligning resources and actions toward a defined objective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is certainly one form of strategy, but there are many more. In Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour through the Wilds of Strategic Management<\/a><\/em>, Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel offer five<\/em> definitions that separately and together capture the many flavors of strategy**<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each definition begins with the same letter, because alliteration is awesome:<\/p>\n\n\n\n