Review: Advancing Strategy Through Behavioral Psychology

Probably one of the more digestible (for most people) books that I've read and reviewed here. I was slightly disappointed with the information density, given that I thought this was going to be a textbook before reading it.

The premise is fairly simple and important. Organizations need to loosen controls a bit to allow innovation to flow (and because perfect control and prediction doesn't exist anyways). Additionally, they should promote the learning and adaptability of the organization (the use of 'smart as a competitive advantage'). This is becoming increasingly important as competitive advantage and strategy has become more dynamic over time.

Another big idea is that strategic advantage comes from behavioral change at the organization, and, for the author, Pontus Wadström, companies should spend more time on action than on planning. This is something I partially agree with. Most of the value of strategy (perhaps unsurprising) is determined by implementation, but implementation without planning is like searching a dark room without a flashlight. People should understand that there are costs to planning, but they typically pay off. Planning, still, is used to inform action though- implementation will be forever indispensable.

These ideas are fine, but I do think the book lacked actionable advice for how to implement 'encouragement' for example. I assume this would leave other practitioners with much to desire, as I feel that much of this is just throwing around words. If we ought to focus on action, it follows that any planning steps should be actionable, so I don't think telling companies 'foster innovation by encouraging discussion' is very useful. Probably the next level of detail in behavioral strategy would be 'managers should engage in discussions with teams on a weekly basis to encourage new ideas by getting everyone to contribute 5 or more ideas each over a 90 minute period'.

I also think the book could have been condensed quite a bit with respect to word count. The points could have been made more concisely, but that may just be my feelings as I do not typically read for the pure enjoyment (I look for new things to apply).

The book was okay, unfortunately, I wouldn't read it again.

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