What corporate India can learn from MEA

The ministry of external affairs offers lessons on strategic planning that can help strike a balance between long-term impact and short-term correction

- PAVAN SONI

GIVEN A CHOICE between failing with a plan or succeeding without a plan, what would you choose? If you ask start-ups, they will rather succeed without a plan, for who wants one in this VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world? But mature organisations are willing to be crushed under the weight of their well-thought-out plans instead of improvising. Too much planning can be debilitating, but its absence is not exactly liberating—it's mostly confusing, as now you can't distinguish between effort and serendipity. And hope, as they say, isn't a good strategy. So how exactly should corporate leaders strategise, striking a balance between long-term impact and short-term correction? Maybe the answer lies with the ministry of external affairs (MEA). Here are three lessons on strategic planning.

Stance of strategic ambiguity

An unsaid rule in strategy is: "The only thing worse than a wrong decision is no decision." You may choose to not choose, and that's a legitimate choice. But the corporates, who are mostly measured by their last quarter's results, tend to rush into decision-making. Inventors love a decisive leader, especially who takes bold decisions and appears clear. There's hardly any room for sticking to the golden mean, for straddling between competing choices is considered meek. But should that be the case, especially in these times of flux?