{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/68357ec21b846c88bdcd7480/69985d77c4ec2d0bf750fc1a?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"137: The six or seven problem when \"being more strategic\"","description":"<p>Being strategic sounds like it should be serious business. It turns out the seriousness can be exactly what gets in the way.</p><p><br></p><p>Following on from episode 136, Tom and Corissa pick up a listener thread about strategy being a zero-sum status game at the company level — then take a sharp left turn into why most people are stuck in exactly the wrong zone for doing anything useful with uncertainty.</p><p><br></p><p>The conversation weaves together Lindy Hop, improv theatre, Pitch Provocations, and a fairly bleak observation about time — into something unexpectedly practical.</p><p><br></p><ul><li>The barbell approach to play: why chronic 6/7 stress is actually the worst place to be for innovation, and what the 0 and 10 extremes have in common</li><li>Why \"just be more playful\" is almost as useless as \"just be more strategic\" — and practical stuff you can do instead</li><li>Uncertainty bubbles: how to artificially impose the right kind of pressure so that different things can emerge</li><li>Front-loading the nightmare — and why Pitch Provocations deliberately generates high-signal feedback when everything is still wrong</li><li>The hidden cost of over-investing before you've tested: stress that balloons, sunk costs, and projects that polish the wrong thing</li><li>Why improv, Lindy Hop, and safe-to-fail experiments are the same muscle — and how to build it somewhere low-stakes first</li><li>Strategy as fractal: you don't need \"strategy\" in your job title to be doing more of it right now</li></ul><p><br></p><p>For anyone who suspects the rules they're playing by are made up — and wants somewhere safe to test that hypothesis.</p><p><br></p><p>Drop us a line: tentacles@crownandreach.com</p><p><br></p><p>References and links:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>Episode 136: When they tell you to 'be more strategic' (but not what that actually means) <a href=\"https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/698de53934f221647e8927ea\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/698de53934f221647e8927ea</a></li><li>Donald Cox – friend of Tentacles who shared the point that there's only a little strategy at any one time at the company level</li><li>Viktor Frankl — Man's Search for Meaning</li><li>Dave Snowden — stress, innovation, and exaptation</li><li>Memento Mori</li><li>Internal locus of control</li><li>Pitch Provocations method (episodes 007–009 for intro)</li><li>Uncertainty bubbles — Crown &amp; Reach concept, find out more when we share at <a href=\"https://reach.crownandreach.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://reach.crownandreach.com</a></li><li>Multiverse Mapping — <a href=\"https://multiversemapping.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://multiversemapping.com</a></li><li>Angie Lina — improv teacher and strategy/sense-making practitioner, former LSE Lindy Hop student</li></ul>","author_name":"Tom Kerwin"}