«Why have you come here?» the Indians asked the first Portuguese who arrived in India. «We are searching for Christians and spices,» was the concise reply. By way of small steps, small commercial enterprises, the Portuguese became the merchants of the Indian Ocean. In the 15th century, the Portuguese Prince Henry (called the Navigator), led expeditions south along the coast of Africa in search of markets and a Christian fable king. The Portuguese never found what they were looking for, but with time, they came to understand that they had found something far more valuable: the sea route to the Indian Ocean and the source of a plethora of all manner of exotic goods. A modest population, which with small steps developed a single, unified strategy. The scope of their opportunities and limitations defined that strategy.
Emergent strategy offers the same. A plan is nothing, planning is everything. Reverse your reasoning! Don’t come up with an overly ambitious goal from which you derive actions. Follow Portugal’s example. Work from the bottom up, in the direction of lofty goals. Value your legacy, core differentiators and pride and throw yourselves into the space of opportunity. Avoid the impossible, that which lies outside the frameworks. Carry out the reasoning from the concrete to the strategic. Then you will perhaps discover other goals and other routes. A new era requires the Portuguese shrewdness and enterprising spirit.
Had the world been bigger, the Portuguese would have discovered it.
Steinar has exceptional professional expertise and he is well-informed. He interprets and connects historical leaders and events to the execution of the leader role with communicative skills that enchant the participants.
Bård K. Frydenlund, Director of Personnel and Organization, AF-Gruppen
