In praise of messiness and unstrategicness

Happy New Year everyone. Even though I am as old as the hills, I am starting to have those thoughts again. You know. Those new year thoughts. This year I am going to: {tidy up my office, optimize my finances, learn a new language, lose weight, get fit, find my partner, divorce my partner, get a new job, write a book… etc.} A lot of my new year aspirations tend to involve getting my s**t together, tidying up, organizing things better, being more disciplined with my time. There are two issues with this. First - I don’t normally live up to these aspirations, and it makes me feel like a bit of a loser. Second, I am not sure they are always quite the right goal. I have always been a bit messy, and I realize that that is not all bad. Some of the things I personally get out of messiness: - Serendipity: When I have to search for things, I often happen upon interesting stuff that stimulates me. - Quick wins: If things are a bit stressful, every now and then, when I need a quick win/ metaphorical pat on my head, I can do some unmessifying. - Authenticity; Things just feel a bit more authentically me/ resonate when they are messy I think this applies in business too. I am a big fan of companies having strategies and anti-strategies. The anti-strategies define ways you won’t try to win in the market, what you won’t do, and ways you won’t do things. They keep your strategy honest and clear. But in the context of messiness, I think companies should have at least 10% unstrategy too. Things that are being pursued where the value/ purpose/ connection to the company’s goals is unclear. Things that the MBA playbook would tell you to cancel. The thing metrics will try to drive out. John Kay's wonderful anthology "Obliquity" is a great inspiration here. Let’s all embed at least 10% unstrategy/ messiness in our personal and professional lives in 2024. #unthink #unask #unlearn #strategy #2024 #HappyNewYear