Personalising Strategy

A company is an inanimate person.
This means that although it has the ability to own assets, enter into contracts and trade with others, it is ultimately unable to do so because it is not a living, breathing person.

Because of this, a company must enter into agreements with people, so that it can do what it aspires to do in accordance with its mandate and founding statements. These agreements involve people, either directors or employees, who act on the company’s behalf.

This means this inanimate company is ultimately at the mercy of people appointed to execute its desires in a manner that is most true and representative of its founding principles. This is the essence of governance and strategy.

As a strategist, I make it my business to uncover the fundamental mandate of the company and compare that with how the people tasked with governing and managing it are performing.

A strategist’s main client is not necessarily the chief executive or the board chairperson; it is the entity itself. Strategy is a tool that can be used to make sure the mandate and purpose of the company is being pursued.

However, strategy and governance can be hijacked, and this can happen knowingly or unknowingly.

In management studies, the principal-agent problem arises when one party is appointed to manage the resources of another party, but due to self-interest, begins to act in a manner that is not consistent with the other party or against the company itself.

When you are put in a position of responsibility, you should always act in a manner that puts the interest of the entity first. That is where good governance and excellent strategy begin.

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