Book Review: Strategy And The Fat Smoker By David Maister
Crawling towards the finish line at the end of 2020, I was working 4.5 days a week but mostly 4, indulging in a little self care on a Friday. The year 2020, certainly took a heavy emotional toll. Now that we are well into the start of 2021 I am finding that my energy levels are still quite low and I am finding it difficult to get back into the rhythm of actively seeking to grow my business, keeping on the bad habits of 2020. I have the words of a former business partner ringing in my ears, “businesses aren’t built nine to five Monday to Friday” and feel that I need a little push along to get my mojo back. In a lot of respects I know what I need to do, but I need to remove the block that is stopping me from doing it. It is time for me to pick up my all time favourite business book again, David Maister’s Strategy and the Fat Smoker.
In his book, Maister likens business strategy to a fat smoker, with the key lesson being that while we may individually and collectively know that something is good for us it is not necessarily a predictor that we are going to do it. He goes on to say that most strategic planning is a waste of time and while we want the benefits, we know what to do, we know why we should do it and we know how to do it and yet we just don’t do it. Furthermore the reason we don’t do it is because the rewards of the strategic plan (which requires a change in behaviour) are in the future while the disruption, discomfort and discipline needed to get there are immediate. As human beings we are not good at the delayed gratification required to implement a strategic plan, we would much prefer instant gratification.
Maister uses real life examples to illustrate his points, including his own story of having a heart attack as a result of being a fat smoker and then suddenly finding the discipline to lose weight and exercise. Fortunately Maister survives his heart attack however, most businesses owners don’t survive insolvency, the business equivalent of a heart attack. He provides tips to persuade people to change before the heart attack comes. My favourite being that it is about permanent change. Strategic actions are best viewed as regular business activities incorporating them into the everyday rather than special events. He alludes to business being an infinite game. This will resonate with anyone who is familiar with Simon Sinek’s work and his book The Infinite Game.
Strategy and the Fat Smoker is not a book about figuring out what to do, it is about devising ways to ensure that compared to others, we actually do more of what everybody knows they should do. This book offers up some real gold, including how businesses can run themselves to overcome the barriers and temptations of the Fat Smoker Syndrome, including
Why we are all becoming more and more focused on the short term (not the infinite game)
Why (most) training is useless and how coaching is an effective way to get businesses to stick to the strategies that will see them reach their goals
What makes a successful manager
Effective managers go first
What skills are truly desired and needed if you are selecting a manager for your business.
Strategy and the Fat Smoker is so much more than what I briefly outlined above. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone that is feeling stuck or who wants to scale and grow their business.
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