“You Don’t Rise To the Levels of Your Goals.
You fall to the levels of your systems.”
This quote from James Clear’s book ‘Atomic Habits’ has a deep meaning.
The classical approach to strategy tells us that strategy starts with ambitious goals and aspirations.
Then, we must plan the actions and find resources to achieve them.
Two thoughts crossed my mind when I thought about Clear’s quote.
[1] Have you ever seen a company that exceeded its strategy and surpassed its goals? Even if such cases exist, they are exceptions, not rules.
Most companies achieve less than they planned. This happens because cognitive bias, known as the planning fallacy, is always in play.
The planning fallacy is a cognitive bias that describes people’s tendency to underestimate the time, costs, and risks of future actions while overestimating the benefits of those actions.
Companies that fall short of their strategies overestimate their systems and underestimate the complexity of system development.
[2] No matter how ambitious our goals are, we will always fall to the level of our systems. Our strategy can’t surpass our systems simply because it’s based on bold targets.
Thus, strategy means continuously enhancing our systems.
Check out my new book, Red and Yellow Strategies: Flip Your Strategic Thinking and Overcome Short-termism, here.
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