Overcoming the Dilemma of Business Vision: The Three Intersections of "Strategic Soundness" and "Ideas' Passion"

<Table of Contents>

▼ Why "reliability" and "uniqueness" often clash: The root cause lies in the review process

▼ Integrating strategy and ideas by leveraging "thinking characteristics"

▼ The "will-can-must" check method: Revealing the intersection of strategy and ideas

▼ Three intersections that harness left-brain × right-brain thinking

▼ Summary: Three intersections lead business concepts to success!

The difficulty in balancing "reliability" and "uniqueness" stems from the review process

We often hear these challenges regarding new business concepts or future visions for existing businesses:

"We've identified future environmental changes, but we don't know how to translate them into concrete initiatives or how to proceed."

This challenge often arises when trying to survey the entire macro environment and identify highly probable changes.

Especially in large corporations, strategies that capture future changes in a way that is easy for everyone to imagine are required to ensure many employees move forward in the same direction. Therefore, the focus is on "clarity of direction" and "correctness," leading to the so-called "mainstream" approach by organizing and analyzing information from already apparent data and best practices.

However, precisely because it is the standard path, while it offers a degree of certainty, it makes it difficult to generate competitive advantage over other companies. Consequently, we frequently see cases where companies cannot visualize a winning strategy when actually implementing it, leading to an inability to move to concrete action. This is a situation where, even if the company possesses unique strengths, it fails to develop a strategy that leverages them.

Conversely, we also hear stories like this:

"We generate various ideas to enhance uniqueness, but none easily translate into major strategic directions."

This challenge often arises when attempting to find a winning path by validating numerous specific business ideas (PoC).

Fundamentally, this idea-driven approach is highly effective for ensuring that individuals involved in the business have a concrete vision they personally want to pursue, enabling them to drive initiatives with high motivation.

However, it carries the challenge of requiring a level of "concreteness" where the outcomes and impacts of the efforts can be visualized. This often results in solutions specific to individual companies or projects, making it difficult to synthesize them into a larger, credible strategy.

This is because, unlike the "mainstream approach starting from the macro environment," unique idea-driven approaches require significant resources and time to gather the information needed to establish the "reliability" required to engage decision-makers and stakeholders. In other words, it creates a high hurdle for business managers to overcome uncertainty, and decision-makers and stakeholders often find it difficult to make investment judgments.

Thus, while a "combination" of strategy and ideas is ideally desired for future-oriented business concepts, the inherent characteristics of the review process make integrating the two difficult.

So, how can we integrate strategy and ideas?

Integrating Strategy and Ideas Based on "Thinking Characteristics"

Which comes first: strategy or ideas?

People's thinking methods vary greatly, but the approach to integration changes significantly depending on whether strategy or ideas is used as the "core."

① When strategy is the "axis" → Add individual ideas to refine the strategy

First, let's examine the approach centered on using left-brain logical thinking to comprehensively organize macro-environmental changes and build strategy.

As mentioned earlier, this method, due to its inherent thinking characteristics, tended to produce strategies that were "correct but uninspiring." Therefore, to infuse it with the unique appeal that moves people, a fusion method becomes effective: introducing ideas and using them to refine the strategy.

<Specific Example>

A regional infrastructure company was advancing an initiative to envision a "future regional foundation and smart city that benefits the community," against the backdrop of regional challenges like "population decline" and "aging."

However, since regional challenges across Japan were similar, the solutions also tended to be similar, raising concerns that the smart city strategy might lose its "regional character."

The solution adopted was to incorporate "ideas" derived from regional characteristics shaped by geography, climate, and history, such as the nature of the local people.

"Nationally, there is a strong savings orientation"
"Across various fields, usage rates for top-category services are high"

Using such regionally specific habits and consumption patterns as hints, we designed services that make it easier to take actions leading to regional revitalization.

By grounding these ideas in such insights, we captured region-specific challenges and needs that conventional smart city strategies often overlook. This enabled us to advance toward a unique vision of the future that local residents themselves could aspire to.

This approach—adding the power of ideas to strategy—is one method of integration.

② When ideas are the "axis" → Structure and organize relationships between ideas to synthesize them into strategy

What about an approach centered on right-brain idea generation, where strategy is woven by connecting individual ideas?

This method, due to its inherent nature, tended to lack the "certainty and information" necessary to engage decision-makers and stakeholders.

In this case, an effective approach is to revisit environmental analysis based on insights from the ideas, then connect and structure the relationships between individual ideas to synthesize them into a larger strategy. This also enables refining each idea to align with the overarching strategy.

<Specific Example>

In the case of a certain food manufacturer, while advancing their future vision,

"The individual ideas for new future initiatives felt disconnected from the current reality."
"It was difficult to envision how these ideas could become solid steps forward or to develop a strategy to move them forward."

These issues arose.

The first step taken was to construct transformation scenarios. This involved organizing and restructuring the previously developed ideas according to the changes in future society that the food manufacturer should anticipate.

Specifically, we envisioned a scenario for "a future simultaneously demanding product personalization and supply chain optimization." This involved steps like "changing how existing products are delivered to gain new customer touchpoints, leading to the development of personalized products."

We then linked each previously developed initiative idea—including those lacking in the steps—to the scenario and refined them. This enhanced the effectiveness and credibility of each idea, consolidating them into a strategy.

This approach—"connecting ideas and synthesizing them into a strategy aligned with a high-probability scenario"—is another method of integration.

Now, whether "strategy is the axis" or "ideas are the axis," we see that both approaches have distinct "methods of integration" based on the characteristics of each thinking style.

The author believes there is a "timing conducive to fusion" between strategy and ideas within the future vision development process. It is, so to speak, the "intersection" where the combination of strategy and ideas should be strengthened.

Therefore, First, I will introduce a simple check method to identify these intersections.

The "Will-Can-Must" Check Method to Reveal the Intersection of Strategy and Ideas

Where is the combination of strategy and ideas insufficient for painting a future that is both plausible and unique?

You can check this intersection using the following three questions:

1. Is that future something you "want to aim for"? (will)
2. Is that future something "our company can realistically aim for" today (can)?
3. Is this future something "people and society demand" (must)?

While the "will-can-must" framework is commonly used for personal career planning, it is also applicable to corporations.

During the future visioning process, if strategy and ideas fail to align effectively, resulting in a lack of "credibility" or "uniqueness," these three elements become difficult to fulfill.

Therefore, by identifying the three elements —"what we want to aim for (will)", "what we can aim for (can)", and "what is demanded (must)"— from the current state of the business and consolidating them into a path toward the future, it becomes clear whether the envisioned future is truly ideal.

Among these, the "must" element—which defines "what must be done"—is a crucial question about the role the company and its business should play in the future society.

Let's examine each one.

will…… Is that future something you "want to aim for"?

A future that business leaders genuinely aspire to must reflect their own convictions.

While this may seem obvious, it's crucial to check if the things the company has tried to do or has done so far are not leading to a future that excites the person in charge.

Can... Is that future something "the company can realistically aim for now"?

Whether the person in charge of the business can perceive the envisioned future as "the direction we are heading" depends on the "reliability" of whether the company's current strengths and assets can be leveraged.

Even considering actual resources like personnel and budget, can the ideal future state derived from anticipated societal changes be envisioned as a natural progression from the present? Strategy and ideas are needed to map out that roadmap.

must……Is that future "something people and society will demand"?

When envisioning a business's future starting from anticipated societal shifts, it's crucial to capture not only market needs but also "human values and fundamental needs."

Changes in "human values" and other difficult-to-quantify factors cannot be grasped by looking only at the specific market in which a company operates. Only by combining a comprehensive perspective and ideas that include changes occurring in other markets with strategy can we begin to grasp them.

As described above, filling the gaps in the "will-can-must" framework requires integrating strategy with ideas. Therefore, it is effective to incorporate this integration into the planning process from the outset.

Three Intersections Leveraging Left-Brain Thinking × Right-Brain Thinking

Now, let's link the specific intersection points where "strategy" (leveraging left-brain thinking) and "ideas" (leveraging right-brain thinking) should be combined to concrete consideration processes.

Reflecting on various future vision projects supported by Dentsu Consulting Inc., the timing where both are most likely to intersect—the junctions of strategy and idea—correspond to each element of "will-can-must":

• will → "Setting the Business Vision and Future Image"
• can → "Building Business Strategy Scenarios"
• must → "Business/Service Planning"

These three processes.

●Timing for incorporating will (desired state) elements
→ The "Business Concept/Future Vision Setting" process

This process involves creating a "vision of the future that inspires excitement and possibility" while capturing major shifts in future society. The power of ideas is crucial for this. However, to translate those ideas into a "vision of the future we want to achieve," stakeholders involved in the business need motivation that makes them want to drive it forward themselves.

Therefore, based on the results of the company analysis conducted in the preceding step,

"Elements the members responsible for the business have pursued with determination up to now"
"Unique elements specific to our company's business that other companies lack"

and then cross-reference these with the generated ideas.

● Timing for incorporating can (achievable) elements
→ The "Business Strategy Scenario Development" process

After setting the future the business aims for, the next step is to draw a strategic scenario to realize that future. This must be a "continuous strategic scenario" that, considering the company's strengths and resources, creates an unbroken path from the current position to the desired future vision.

To continuously acquire and strengthen unique competitive advantages toward the desired future, you need "steps" for gradually expanding your company's assets (like holdings and talent) and a "roadmap" embedded with solid reasons for advancing each step.

However, simply connecting individual ideas won't bridge the gaps between these steps; a strategic integration of ideas is required.

In this process, we build upon a strategy-driven scenario to incrementally generate ideas that bridge the gaps between steps, thereby making the scenario more seamless, concrete, and robust.

●Timing for incorporating must-have elements
→ During the "Business/Service Planning" process

To ensure the planned business/service is "something people and society demand," it is necessary to capture fundamental needs, such as human values.

However, focusing solely on the market where the company or business operates, and planning and evaluating based primarily on "quantitatively assessed marketability and growth rates," is insufficient. This approach only captures needs that have already manifested within the market.

Therefore, an effective approach is to complement the "strategy"-first approach—which focuses on the market in which the company operates—with "ideas" that capture fundamental values, enabling comprehensive connections to trends in other industries and markets.

This enables the planning and evaluation of businesses and services while capturing "fundamental needs, such as shifts in consumer values."

At these three key moments, let both left-brain "strategy" and right-brain "ideas" run parallel, each fulfilling its distinct role. This approach satisfies the "will-can-must" elements and enables synergistic effects through the combination of " ."

Summary: Three Intersections Lead to Successful Business Concepts!

• Achieving both "reliability" and "uniqueness" requires a combination that leverages the characteristics of both right-brain thinking, which generates ideas, and left-brain thinking, which generates strategy.
• Insufficient integration can be checked using the three questions of "will-can-must."
• In the future vision development process, capturing three key moments—"setting the business vision/future image," "building business strategy scenarios," and "drafting business/service proposals"—creates synergistic effects.

While the necessity is often understood, achieving both plausibility and uniqueness is a challenging journey.

Amidst this, we transform the uniqueness of a business into a strength demanded by people and society through "ideas," and as "strategy," we chart an exciting path toward the future beyond our current journey. We hope to be of assistance to those who take on the responsibility of creating such futures.

Dentsu Consulting Inc.
https://www.dentsuconsulting.com/
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