{"id":5308,"date":"2026-05-13T11:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T02:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevenbleistein.net\/?p=5308"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:47:08","slug":"ceo-roundtable-discusssion-summary-strategy-on-your-own-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevenbleistein.net\/ja\/2026\/05\/ceo-roundtable-discusssion-summary-strategy-on-your-own-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"CEO Roundtable Discusssion Summary: Strategy on Your Own Terms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I run a monthly, private CEO Roundtable for my best clients and business leaders in the community whom I choose to invite and share the discussion summary with my community. If you are interested in joining us on the live discussion, drop me a line.<\/p>

Below is the Discussion Summary of my recent CEO Roundtable.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

The Nine Provocative Statements<\/h2>

1. Strategy is about creating the future, not predicting it.<\/h3>

Strategy is not forward projection from the present \u2014 that is planning. Real strategy starts with a bold vision and works backward. Working backward turns constraints into solvable problems; working forward turns them into excuses.<\/p>

2. ‘Strategic planning’ is an oxymoron.<\/h3>

Planning and strategy point in opposite directions. A plan tells you what to do when everything goes as expected; a strategy tells you how to think and act when it doesn’t. Plans start from the present and build forward. Strategy starts from the future and builds backward. The moment you begin with current-state analysis, you have already compromised the vision. Apple’s Steve Jobs built the Macintosh, not the Apple IV. Fast Retailing’s Tadashi Yanai built Uniqlo, not a better clothing wholesaler.<\/p>

3. No strategy survives first contact with the market.<\/h3>

The most important work in strategy is not justifying why it will succeed \u2014 it is identifying what could go wrong and building contingencies. A nine-figure (U.S. dollar) factory investment I described turned on an assumption (customers wanted Japanese-quality products at lower cost) that proved wrong on market contact. Every KPI had tracked green right up until that point.<\/p>

4. Decide which profitable business to cut first in order to make room for growth.<\/h3>

Cutting unprofitable businesses is easy. The harder and more necessary discipline is cutting profitable businesses that no longer fit the strategic direction. You cannot pile new initiatives on old ones and expect to grow. One client cut their profitable auto insurance business \u2014 a commodity product \u2014 to make room for highly differentiated services. That decision separated real strategy from wishful thinking.<\/p>

5. Strategy is about the audacious business you want, not the one you think you can reasonably have.<\/h3>

Constraints are real but not disqualifying. Most executives filter ambition through what seems achievable \u2014 which is exactly backwards. State the audacious version first, then solve for how to make it real. A retail executive I coached proposed a bold reinvention of her company’s online channel. Many of her ideas were adopted. Audacity is the permission to propose bold ideas without apology.<\/p>

6. The best strategies always polarize, at least at first.<\/h3>

In Japan especially, normative pressure produces strategies everyone agrees with and no one has seriously challenged. If a strategic idea causes some to jump up and shout, “It’s about time!” while others prognosticate doom, lamenting, “It’s the end of the business!” \u2014 you are probably onto something pretty good. Polemics are a feature, not a bug.<\/p>

7. Execution first. Buy-in later.<\/h3>

The most successful leaders I know execute first and use execution to create buy-in. The best way to gain buy-in is to let people experience real success, not evangelizing like an American tent preacher. As the leader, you decide the ‘what’ unilaterally. You involve your staff in the ‘how.’ One CEO client cut the company’s commodity trading business over staff objection, involved the team in the execution approach, and doubled profit while revenue dropped 40%.<\/p>

8. Fast is better than perfect.<\/h3>

No strategic decision is ever perfect regardless of how much data you have. Most decisions are mostly right and need tweaking in execution. Insistence on perfection halts progress and opens opportunities for competitors.<\/p>

9. Stop trying to predict the future. Make your future instead.<\/h3>

Strategy is not forecasting. It is the deliberate construction of the future you want for your business. Be unreasonable. Be bold.<\/p>

Key Points from Participants<\/h2>

Key Insights<\/h3>
Theme<\/strong><\/td>Insight<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
People strategy<\/strong><\/td>High standards combined with servant leadership produce natural self-selection. The right people are attracted; the wrong people leave. Termination-first cultures are rarely necessary.<\/td><\/tr>
Suicidal empathy<\/strong><\/td>Over-investing in underperformers is a trap. Redirect that energy to your best people \u2014 results compound. Goodwill extended to mediocrity does not.<\/td><\/tr>
Hiring<\/strong><\/td>Your best people know other excellent people. Network-based hiring consistently outperforms contingency recruitment on quality, retention, and cultural fit.<\/td><\/tr>
Incentives<\/strong><\/td>Money is a hygiene factor. Sales-only incentives produce transactional behavior. Excellent people are motivated by growth, purpose, and craft \u2014 not incremental pay.<\/td><\/tr>
Fast vs. perfect<\/strong><\/td>Apply speed to strategic direction and early-stage decisions. Apply precision where errors are costly or hard to reverse. Context determines which principle applies.<\/td><\/tr>
Bold leadership<\/strong><\/td>Declare the what. Involve your team in the how. If your head office will not give you genuine strategic purview, you may be in the wrong role.<\/td><\/tr>
Japan dimension<\/strong><\/td>Strategic caution in Japan is real but frequently overstated. Many constraints are habit, not culture. Clear vision and servant leadership work here as they do anywhere.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

On Suicidal Empathy<\/h3>

One CEO introduced the concept of “suicidal empathy” \u2014 the trap of over-investing time and energy in underperformers out of compassion, at the expense of the business and its strongest contributors.<\/p>