What Strategists Can Learn From Sartre
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In "What Strategists Can Learn from Sartre," the cover story of the Winter 2003 issue of strategy+business, Jay Ogilvy, a GBN cofounder and Monitor Group partner, gives a quick introduction to existentialism, and applies the lessons to business issues.
One main theme running through the article is the existential approach to the future as an open field waiting to be filled by the choices we make, not a predetermined future that can be calculated, measured, or predicted. The existentialists stressed our finitude: no company can be all things to all people, so the choices we make matter. If you're not saying no, you're not doing strategy. Existentialists also talk about "being-toward-death." No company is immune to the possibility of bankruptcy. An existential sense of urgency takes the name "care," or giving a damn.
Finally, the existential theme of "authenticity" speaks to a faithfulness to mission that is nonetheless very different from "keeping the faith." Essentialists stick to their knitting, their "core competency." Existentialists are free to make it up as they go along, within limits, of course. Where business strategists talk a good line about the need for innovation and creativity, existential philosophers have something to teach them about temporality and the times we now live in. Freedom presupposes real choices; choices presuppose options to choose among. Scenarios serve to articulate those options, and thereby enhance freedom.
One main theme running through the article is the existential approach to the future as an open field waiting to be filled by the choices we make, not a predetermined future that can be calculated, measured, or predicted. The existentialists stressed our finitude: no company can be all things to all people, so the choices we make matter. If you're not saying no, you're not doing strategy. Existentialists also talk about "being-toward-death." No company is immune to the possibility of bankruptcy. An existential sense of urgency takes the name "care," or giving a damn.
Finally, the existential theme of "authenticity" speaks to a faithfulness to mission that is nonetheless very different from "keeping the faith." Essentialists stick to their knitting, their "core competency." Existentialists are free to make it up as they go along, within limits, of course. Where business strategists talk a good line about the need for innovation and creativity, existential philosophers have something to teach them about temporality and the times we now live in. Freedom presupposes real choices; choices presuppose options to choose among. Scenarios serve to articulate those options, and thereby enhance freedom.
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