Vijay Govindarajan on Strategy & Getting a Global Mindset

Where American education excels is in critical thinking, imagination, creativity and unstructured problem solving. People from India, and also China and Japan, have the basic skills drilled into them, “and when they acquire the knowledge taught at American business schools, the combination is dynamite.”
That’s Vijay Govindarajan (VG) explaining how East meets West and increasingly how West will have to meet the East.
Govindarajan has taught more than 3,000 students in his 20-year career at Tuck, and he has specific advice for the area’s high school students: “Learn languages, they open up your mind to different possibilities. Take courses in public speaking to build your level of confidence. Really focus on education, especially science, math and technology, and travel,” he said.
Is travel education? VG seems to think it is.
Read this article and listen to this audio interview on strategy.
Note his Box 1-2-3 freamework. According to VG, strategy is a competition for the future, not the present.
Box 1: Manage the Present
Box 2: Selectively Forget the Past
Box 3: Create the Future
Most companies are stuck in the present- Box 1. They spend their time in Box 1 and think they’re doing strategy.
It’s about continuous improvement (linear performance) vs. breakout performance (non-linear). Listen to his example about Hasbro- the family entertainment company. Who has time to play Monopoly for a half a day?
Again, listen to this interview. What happens when children go older younger– a non-linear shift in Hasbro’s market. By focusing on the tweens- learn how Hasbro creates a whole new business with Video Now… Box-3 thinking.
Roots and chains… Fertilize your roots, but break your chains.
Nice language from VG. But how do you re-invent Monopoly?
What about Kodak? VG tells us why Nokia and HP are the biggest player in digital cameras.
How can companies succeed in strategic innovation? See Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators: From Idea to Execution >>