p.10 We learned from Ted Levitt, former editor of the Harvard Business Review, that "the
future belongs to people who see possibilities before they become obvious."
p.12 We soon came to realize that success did not actually depend on how masterfully a leader or manager
could "see forward" or perceive the detailed nuances of a new strategy. It depended on successfully engaging the rest of the
organization in... executing the strategy.
p.12-13 How could we get the full workplace to be engaged, thereby enabling a strategy to succeed? Our search
began with trying to reach a deep understanding of the secrets of authentic and sustained engagement.
p.33 What is interesting is that the stop activities must be just as deliberate and intense
as the start actions.
p.36 This isn't about dumbing down the strategy, but about making it sophisticated, elegant, and brilliantly
simple so less experienced people can instantly grasp its meaning.
p.40 Relevance is at the heart of engagement.
p.44 leaders need to constantly bring motion to the illustrations they create. The idea is to enable people
to see cause and effect - how strategy works, where it's going, the key links, and what's needed to make all the pieces work
together.
p.58 until people can think systemically, they'll never be able to think big. They will not be engaged until
they can see the whole system.
p.102-103 Visual iteration [JLJ - a kind of storyboarding] allows people to see their ideas on paper in
order to make sure that they're well thought through and convey what they intend to convey... visual iteration enables people
to think in systems.
p.117 It's important to remember that sketching the truth is valuable only if it... enables new energy and
enthusiasm for finding a better way... The key is to use the sketch to start a conversation that, in the end, is about how
reality must change
p.169 We coined an expression: "Business success will be determined not by the insight and learning
speed of the brightest few, but by the understanding and execution speed of the slowest many."
p.170-171 the majority of the organizations we worked with didn't think of engaging people to execute strategy
as a process, and consequently, no one owned that process.
p.176 If strategic engagement is a process, improving it needs to be approached with the same discipline
as any other process - with a solid assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in the process and a clear understanding of
how it is performing. This knowledge can open an enormous opportunity for better aligning your resources to the areas with
the greatest potential for success... What's lacking is a clear link to the behaviors that indicate effective strategy
execution. If you don't consider the strategic component of engagement, you may be measuring engagement in an incomplete
way.
p.236 Strategies, if shared correctly, are truly adventures.
p.236 To execute a strategy, people need an honest assessment of where they are and a clear picture
of where they want to go... A strategy story, told properly, is an adventure that invites others to join
p.237 Albert Einstein... once said, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well
enough."
p.237 Visualization creates simplicity. It forces us to think more simply... Visualization
acts as a mirror for our thinking, revealing just how complete our ideas are... or aren't. If a strategy is not clear
enough to visualize, it's not clear enough to deploy or to engage people.
p.241 Success is the result of asking better questions so that we reach deeper insights, which will
allow us to more effectively solve the real problems.
p.242 The most sophisticated strategy is worthless if humans can't embrace it or be engaged in it...
It's up to us to constantly bridge the gaps between people and possibilities by knowing - and practicing - what it takes to
tap into the latent, unused potential that's just waiting to be awakened and engaged.
