Strategizing, Self-Actualization, and Visionary Leadership

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MBA module: strategizing and self-actualization

A post series on strategic thinking, personal trajectory, and macro risk context.

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Primary source

MBA module: strategizing and self-actualization

A post series on strategic thinking, personal trajectory, and macro risk context.

Open post [1/3]

#Management

This chapter synthesizes an MBA module into a practical leadership lens: company strategy, personal strategy, and self-actualization. The focus is execution-ready thinking, not abstract theory.

TL;DR

Strategy starts with worldview assumptions and the narrative you currently operate from.
Organizations benefit from combining Porterian and resource-based logic, not polarizing them.
Personal 5/10-year planning needs both rational goals and emotional sustainability.

Module structure

1) Worldview and narratives

Kick-off through abstract paintings: emotion, interpretation, and naming.
Erik Erikson's basic trust scale: from 'the world is dangerous' to 'the world is safe'.
Gestalt loop (need -> pre-contact -> contact -> post-contact) as a frame for unfinished situations.

2) Company strategy and personal strategy

Value proposition is checked across key stakeholders: shareholders, clients, employees, society.
Personal equivalent: manager, direct reports, peers, family.
Two strategic logics are combined: top-down (Porter) and bottom-up (Barney's resource-based view).

3) 5/10-year horizon and external context

Personal 2x2 exercise: two major challenges, extreme alternatives, scenarios for 5 and 10 years.
Success depends on both rational and emotional dimensions.
Macro frame: governance levels, PESTLE, global risks, and preparedness for higher-level scenarios.

Two strategic lenses

Porterian strategy (top-down)

Context: Often more natural with a 'safe world' perception where planning and forecasting are trusted.

Core: Logic from market structure to strategy: market scope + competitive advantage type.

Typical moves: Differentiation, cost leadership, focus.

Resource-based view by Barney (bottom-up)

Context: Often attractive with a 'dangerous world' perception where internal capabilities are the anchor.

Core: Logic from resources to advantage, then to market choice, strategy, and execution.

Typical moves: Building on unique capabilities and escaping direct red-ocean competition.

5/10-year personal strategy exercise

Define 2 major challenges for a 5-10 year horizon.
For each challenge, define two extreme alternatives and build a 2x2 matrix.
Map three states: now, in 5 years, in 10 years.
Choose your desired 10-year point and intermediate 5-year position.
Describe the chain of events and decisions needed to move from current to target quadrant.
Validate not only rationally but emotionally: will this trajectory be sustainable for you as a person.

Quick meeting check-in trio

Body state (basal ganglia): energy, tension, and available capacity.
Emotional state (limbic system): what you actually feel now.
Intentional state (cortex): what outcome you are intentionally trying to create in this meeting.

Patterns

Include all strategic stakeholders, not just customers and PnL.

Combine top-down and bottom-up strategy instead of choosing a single ideology.

Evaluate major decisions through both rational and emotional filters.

Revisit your personal narrative regularly: who you are, where you came from, where and why you are going.

Keep external risk awareness active (for example through global risk reports).

Common anti-patterns

Treating strategy as slides without links to real resources and constraints.

Ignoring emotional cost of your chosen path and burning out on a formally successful trajectory.

Rationalizing unfinished emotional loops instead of resolving them.

Confusing influence levels: trying to 'control' geopolitics instead of preparing your local scenarios.

Using trendy terms without practical steps and validation checkpoints.

External context: governance levels and risks

Geopolitical

Sovereign/social

Corporate

Personal

Practical takeaway: for levels above your direct control, strategy is about readiness and scenario design, not illusionary control.

Sources and related chapters

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