212 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES
the strategic assessment process. All of this happens before strategic plan-
ning even begins.
Most executives leap directly from intuition to strategic planning and
overlook the importance of strategic exploration. The analogy I use is of a
wagon train heading westward. No wagon master would roll the wagons with-
out first sending out scouts to explore the terrain that lies ahead. The wagon
master has an intuition about what the future holds but needs details and
specifics to educate that opinion. A good scouting team is diverse in back-
ground and experience. This diversity guarantees that they will see a broad
spectrum of possibilities. Their job is to bring back information, almost al-
ways qualitative, that will illuminate the choices of the paths ahead. The
wagon master assesses this information and, with the help of the scouts,
picks a path. Once the pathway is decided, the wagon master meets with the
members of the wagon train to share his vision of their collective future.
People think that the vision process is the last step in strategy planning,
but I believe it needs to come at the end of the scouting process, when strate-
gic exploration has taken place and many of the long-term consequences have
been identified.
A deficiency in leadership today is its unwillingness to take the time to ex-
plore and consider the long-term positive and negative implications of a vi-
sion. When unexpected change occurs, organizations that have not planned
for such possibilities retreat to the prevailing paradigm and willingly give up
market share rather than deal with reality. It’s the job of a manager to opti-
mize the paradigm the organization currently occupies. But it’s the job of
the leader to lead between the paradigms. I tell leaders that 60 percent of
their time should be focused on the future. No one will thank them for tak-
ing care of today, if they fail to provide for tomorrow.