Through most of the 20th century, business strategy was usually developed by a small executive team who sat down to work out solutions to “strategic issues.” But it’s no longer feasible to rely on this industrial-age way of developing strategy, according to an online Harvard Business Review article.

Traditional models of strategy making don’t take advantage of what the age of the internet makes possible in terms of sourcing innovative ideas. That’s partly because many executives take a narrow view of the process, fearing that if they open it up, they will muddle decision making.

They may also fear that they will only expose their ignorance by reaching out for ideas. In addition, they worry that the entire process will become unmanageable. However, leaders who fall into these traps lose out, according to HBR.

Instead, CEOs should map out their process to see where they’re short of ideas — most likely in the information-gathering stage — then treat that part of strategy making as a process of exploring and discovering what they don’t know, like an exercise in innovation, and, finally, embrace the volume and complexity of the ideas they receive.

Read the full article online.

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