#1: Creating Strategy using Photographic Disciplines
A Snapshot:
In this article I will draw a parallel between Management Strategy and Photography and how I think the two are entwined in ways that will lend to each other. There are disciplines in photography that are very instrumental to success in photography and an absolute necessity without which we would be the same as anyone with a camera. The same reason why management strategy fails so often and never delivers on the differentiation we seek, because it can benefit from the same discipline that photography can bring to the table to imbibe into the art of strategy in management.
The Problem Statement: Why do we often get strategy wrong?
Strategy is that part of management which is meant to take into account the current realities, the possible future direction of the industry, the pulse of the customers, the market forces, the geopolitical climate and the economic environment. The purpose of the strategy is to leverage our understanding of the factors described above to formulate a game plan, that will allow us to leap frog competition, break open new markets, increase brand value, enhance the customer experience and stay loyal to our identity and core values. It is a plan for success, that pragmatically defines the vision, the goals and the milestones that need to be achieved and the time frame to achieve them in, in the context of the factors surrounding them, the investment required for the same and the effort with the magnitude of change required to deliver on them. So why do we spectacularly fail most of the time.
Well for one we get the initial assessment of the factors horribly wrong and since they predicate any insight and strategic thinking that follows, the strategy is only as good as that assessment. This however is only half the problem, even if we do get the first bit right, we tend to as creatures of habit and fear of change and lack of risk appetite and trust in our own intrinsic abilities default to the known possibilities, thereby limiting the opportunity to differentiate and lead. Now this is where my corollary to photography comes in...
The possible solution: Making the case for Photography as a complementary facet to Strategy.
You must be wondering they are like chalk and cheese, how could they possibly be complementary. Well you couldn't be more wrong and i can tell you from my personal and professional experience as an Information Technology Executive and as a amateur photographer on the cusp of turning professional how much of the skills and discipline in photography i have had to develop in order to make that leap from Amateur to Professional, that i find are readily lending themselves to my professional life as an Information Technology Professional. Let me tell you how.....
Photography and its wonderful upside.
Humans are creatures with basic instincts tuned to the 5 senses that stimulate those instincts which in turn cause us to behave in particular ways that define our personalities which in turn drive our actions that then result in experiences and finally end up in memories. Let us never forget this fact, as its what drives the core of a customers experience. We also have a "Pair" of 2 of our sensory faculties ie: eyes and ears, predisposing us to using them more and our thinking is usually biased by these 2 faculties more than others. In other words, sensory signals from our eyes and ears get to our brain faster and register deep and longer. It is the reason why Advertising is primarily based on Audio and Visual elements. Its the reason why we default to more visual aids when communicating in writing and the reason why A picture speaks more than a thousand words. Photography and Videography are two areas that are central to leveraging these two faculties the most and hence the skills and disciplines in these two professions are the closest to the customer than in any other industry.
What makes an AD or a Video or a Photo, a compelling one and propels it to fame and fortune? It is the storytelling ability of its creator. If you look back at human history, long before science and math became the language of communication, storytelling and pictorials was the only way to decipher what mattered to people in those days. Its an innate need within all of us and we gravitate to it like bees to nectar. The art of storytelling requires an even more wider degree of skills and disciplines and they are the things that make photography and videography best suited to inculcate those skills in people.
Before we dive into the exact skills and disciplines, its worth pointing out that one of the reasons that strategy fails, is not because of its definition or structure or contents. The core reason for strategic failures is that it has failed to elicit the understanding, empathy and support of the readers and it also fails to inspire, energize and visualize for them the gains to be had in implementing it. In short is doesn't touch the chord of the very being of the people it is intended for.
So what do we learn from Photography?
The first thing we learn is to slow down the pace with tonnes of patience, to get in tune with the environment and the feelings it evokes within us as photographers, what chord does it touch in us. We then start to empty our mind of any influences that might distract us from focusing on those feelings created by the environment we are immersed in. Once we are in touch with that feeling and our mind is clear of its contents and open to receiving stimulus, we start to use our imagination to compose the visual in our minds eye of what would best describe that feeling visually to someone who is not there.
We start to patiently and open mindedly let our acute visual and audible senses guide us in selecting elements that will form part of the composition. We do this iteratively selecting and deselecting until we feel that we have the right mix of elements identified to form part of the composition. We then go about looking for the right arrangement of those elements in the composition, changing up the angle, lighting, focus, depth of field and exposure levels to ensure that they are optimally located within the composition frame, to bring out the best narrative of the story about the feeling we are feeling at the moment as a photographer. It is an art, its not a science, you have to feel it, grope you way around in the dark until your senses tell you its right, you learn to trust your judgement and your intuition and your skills to make it work. Only then do you press the button and in an instant your job is done.
You can only hope that when people see your photo it does one of two things to them. First it takes them back to a time when they either had the same feeling you had because they can feel it from your photo or they can reminiscence their own experience in that exact same environment back in time. Secondly, they experience a feeling from your photo that they have always wanted to have and were searching for but couldn't find. Your photo, delivers that feeling to them and it meets their satisfaction causing them to seek out that environment and those elements in the photo that brought it all together.
If only our Strategies where like photos, we would have likes and followers and receive comments and praises and have endorsers and fans who share it around until it gathers critical moment to take on a life of its own with its own share of believers ready and willing to make it happen.
Conclusions
At no point am i suggesting that Management Executives holding strategic responsibilities go out and become photographers, nor am i suggesting that professional photographers get into management Strategic consulting. But i am suggesting that corporate executives need to cognizant of the skills and disciplines that photography brings to the table and apply those skills to strategy creation. The case in point on the importance of this, is that the human beings, will always have feelings and act on them and their visual and auditory senses will continue to drive those behaviors which result in experiences. As humans beings work with us and our our customers, until they are replaced by robots we will need to engage their senses to see that elusive success.
Disclaimer: Readers please be advised, these are my personal reflections from experience on the various topics listed in this blog and not the views of my current or past employers or clients. All products, vendors and trademarks mentioned in here are the respective property of their owners.No content from this blog may be reproduced without expressed permission.
In this article I will draw a parallel between Management Strategy and Photography and how I think the two are entwined in ways that will lend to each other. There are disciplines in photography that are very instrumental to success in photography and an absolute necessity without which we would be the same as anyone with a camera. The same reason why management strategy fails so often and never delivers on the differentiation we seek, because it can benefit from the same discipline that photography can bring to the table to imbibe into the art of strategy in management.
The Problem Statement: Why do we often get strategy wrong?
Strategy is that part of management which is meant to take into account the current realities, the possible future direction of the industry, the pulse of the customers, the market forces, the geopolitical climate and the economic environment. The purpose of the strategy is to leverage our understanding of the factors described above to formulate a game plan, that will allow us to leap frog competition, break open new markets, increase brand value, enhance the customer experience and stay loyal to our identity and core values. It is a plan for success, that pragmatically defines the vision, the goals and the milestones that need to be achieved and the time frame to achieve them in, in the context of the factors surrounding them, the investment required for the same and the effort with the magnitude of change required to deliver on them. So why do we spectacularly fail most of the time.
Well for one we get the initial assessment of the factors horribly wrong and since they predicate any insight and strategic thinking that follows, the strategy is only as good as that assessment. This however is only half the problem, even if we do get the first bit right, we tend to as creatures of habit and fear of change and lack of risk appetite and trust in our own intrinsic abilities default to the known possibilities, thereby limiting the opportunity to differentiate and lead. Now this is where my corollary to photography comes in...
The possible solution: Making the case for Photography as a complementary facet to Strategy.
You must be wondering they are like chalk and cheese, how could they possibly be complementary. Well you couldn't be more wrong and i can tell you from my personal and professional experience as an Information Technology Executive and as a amateur photographer on the cusp of turning professional how much of the skills and discipline in photography i have had to develop in order to make that leap from Amateur to Professional, that i find are readily lending themselves to my professional life as an Information Technology Professional. Let me tell you how.....
Photography and its wonderful upside.
Humans are creatures with basic instincts tuned to the 5 senses that stimulate those instincts which in turn cause us to behave in particular ways that define our personalities which in turn drive our actions that then result in experiences and finally end up in memories. Let us never forget this fact, as its what drives the core of a customers experience. We also have a "Pair" of 2 of our sensory faculties ie: eyes and ears, predisposing us to using them more and our thinking is usually biased by these 2 faculties more than others. In other words, sensory signals from our eyes and ears get to our brain faster and register deep and longer. It is the reason why Advertising is primarily based on Audio and Visual elements. Its the reason why we default to more visual aids when communicating in writing and the reason why A picture speaks more than a thousand words. Photography and Videography are two areas that are central to leveraging these two faculties the most and hence the skills and disciplines in these two professions are the closest to the customer than in any other industry.
What makes an AD or a Video or a Photo, a compelling one and propels it to fame and fortune? It is the storytelling ability of its creator. If you look back at human history, long before science and math became the language of communication, storytelling and pictorials was the only way to decipher what mattered to people in those days. Its an innate need within all of us and we gravitate to it like bees to nectar. The art of storytelling requires an even more wider degree of skills and disciplines and they are the things that make photography and videography best suited to inculcate those skills in people.
Before we dive into the exact skills and disciplines, its worth pointing out that one of the reasons that strategy fails, is not because of its definition or structure or contents. The core reason for strategic failures is that it has failed to elicit the understanding, empathy and support of the readers and it also fails to inspire, energize and visualize for them the gains to be had in implementing it. In short is doesn't touch the chord of the very being of the people it is intended for.
So what do we learn from Photography?
The first thing we learn is to slow down the pace with tonnes of patience, to get in tune with the environment and the feelings it evokes within us as photographers, what chord does it touch in us. We then start to empty our mind of any influences that might distract us from focusing on those feelings created by the environment we are immersed in. Once we are in touch with that feeling and our mind is clear of its contents and open to receiving stimulus, we start to use our imagination to compose the visual in our minds eye of what would best describe that feeling visually to someone who is not there.
We start to patiently and open mindedly let our acute visual and audible senses guide us in selecting elements that will form part of the composition. We do this iteratively selecting and deselecting until we feel that we have the right mix of elements identified to form part of the composition. We then go about looking for the right arrangement of those elements in the composition, changing up the angle, lighting, focus, depth of field and exposure levels to ensure that they are optimally located within the composition frame, to bring out the best narrative of the story about the feeling we are feeling at the moment as a photographer. It is an art, its not a science, you have to feel it, grope you way around in the dark until your senses tell you its right, you learn to trust your judgement and your intuition and your skills to make it work. Only then do you press the button and in an instant your job is done.
You can only hope that when people see your photo it does one of two things to them. First it takes them back to a time when they either had the same feeling you had because they can feel it from your photo or they can reminiscence their own experience in that exact same environment back in time. Secondly, they experience a feeling from your photo that they have always wanted to have and were searching for but couldn't find. Your photo, delivers that feeling to them and it meets their satisfaction causing them to seek out that environment and those elements in the photo that brought it all together.
If only our Strategies where like photos, we would have likes and followers and receive comments and praises and have endorsers and fans who share it around until it gathers critical moment to take on a life of its own with its own share of believers ready and willing to make it happen.
Conclusions
At no point am i suggesting that Management Executives holding strategic responsibilities go out and become photographers, nor am i suggesting that professional photographers get into management Strategic consulting. But i am suggesting that corporate executives need to cognizant of the skills and disciplines that photography brings to the table and apply those skills to strategy creation. The case in point on the importance of this, is that the human beings, will always have feelings and act on them and their visual and auditory senses will continue to drive those behaviors which result in experiences. As humans beings work with us and our our customers, until they are replaced by robots we will need to engage their senses to see that elusive success.
Disclaimer: Readers please be advised, these are my personal reflections from experience on the various topics listed in this blog and not the views of my current or past employers or clients. All products, vendors and trademarks mentioned in here are the respective property of their owners.No content from this blog may be reproduced without expressed permission.
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Dear Reader, If you have a comment about a post on this blog I'd like to hear about it. There is always merit in hearing yet another view or opinion, wisdom is only good as the collective learn one can ever get. Regards Duane.