Influencing Strategy
Summary
Human science is well suited for informing corporate strategy. Since big decisions in companies are bets on human behavior, having someone at the table specialized in humans can be helpful. So why is it that the logic of finance and technology dominates most strategy processes? Why are we, human scientists, are not as influential as we could be? Drawing on stories from his 20 years as an advisor, Christian will share how the human sciences can – and why they should – be part of the most important and consequential decisions companies make.
Key Insights
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Advising executives is best approached as a partnership of equals, not managing from below.
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Less than 10% of big corporate decisions are truly driven by research despite the industry’s size.
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Understanding the internal harmony of an organization—including jargon, assumptions, and financial flows—is crucial to influence.
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A company's financial literacy is fundamental for researchers to gain strategic influence.
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Each organization has a distinct rhythm or cadence that governs timing for change and decision-making.
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Introducing challenging ideas (dissonance) requires precise timing, minimal new concepts at once, and a foolproof presentation.
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Memorable hooks or riffs—small, repeatable stories—are vital for executives to retain and act on insights.
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Ethnographic skills are as important internally as they are externally in understanding organizations.
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Deep understanding of both micro organizational rhythm and broader societal context is necessary for impactful advice.
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Opaque or complex business models, especially in tech, require intense ethnographic effort before credible advice can be given.
Notable Quotes
"Managing up assumes research is below something, but I see advising as partnerships and equals."
"Less than 10% of big decisions are based on research, which is rare given how much we spend on it."
"If you don’t understand the financial flow in an organization, you’re financially illiterate and you’re on top."
"The rhythm of a company is like a drumbeat—knowing when to suggest changes is everything."
"I wasted five years being blind to the rhythm of the place before we moved billions of dollars addressing major issues."
"When you introduce dissonance, people listen only to catch your mistakes, so you have to be precise like tweezers."
"Without memorable hooks or riffs in your presentation, executives forget your message the minute they leave."
"The story of the immunotherapy patient and his daughters became a riff that executives remember to understand complex life impacts."
"Ethnography inside companies is about living in France and caring to learn French."
"If you stop reading journals and practicing your instrument, you’re done as an expert."
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