How Did I Become a Strategic Visionary

During my career, I have designed pixel-level details, conceptualized strategies, business models, processes, and services. Nowadays, I can move vertically from the abstract level of systemic value creation down to the pixel and code level of an individual service. Having worked at all levels of abstraction, I have also become familiar with the domains of other parties horizontally, encompassing the work of coders and enterprise architects, as well as the activities of product managers and top management on the business side. How did the ability to think both vertically and horizontally at the same time come about? Let me tell you my own story.

From artifact design to customer needs

I began my career by designing very tangible end products, artifacts. These included web and mobile applications, visual identities, and logos. I was excited about typography and how it could be used to create visually appealing items for both print and digital mediums. I polished pixels to the utmost precision. I wanted things to be not only user-friendly but also visually attractive. However, at some point, I realized that no matter how user-friendly and good-looking the outputs were, if the customers had no need for them, what was the point of any of it?

The needs and problems of customers, as well as the underlying motivations and behaviors, began to interest me. Shouldn't we first ensure that the solutions we create are genuinely meaningful and improve customers' lives? I moved a step higher in abstraction and began conceptualizing web and mobile services to meet customer needs, validating needs before starting any precise technical implementation. I used service design's customer-centric design principles and tools. I was excited about everything and got to do everything under the sun.

Holistic thinking emerges

What I was doing, however, was conceptualizing individual products/services, solutions that often did not support the big picture. Moreover, in that hustle and bustle, the business value and how do you differentiate were forgotten. Even if things pleased the customer, it doesn't mean that the business is profitable. To ensure the company operates in the future, the operation must also produce value for the business.

Also new business opportunities should be discovered way more actively and not just focus on doing existing business. I woke up to the reality that business models should also be considered and validated before making significant investments. Both customer, business, and feasibility perspectives should be balanced. Design thinking wasn’t enough, I had to learn business thinking.

How to lead wholes?

The fundamental task of every company is to create value. However, value creation often occurs only at the level of individual products, not at the company level. No one is responsible for the entire customer experience or the value creation portfolio.

Customer journeys cut through the entire organization's operations; they are not limited to the trenches defined by the organization itself. The customer experience is formed at all touchpoints that the customer has with the company. These touchpoints include websites, mobile services, advertising, brand, customer service, etc. The customer experience is always a subjective experience of the customer, but measures that either improve or worsen the customer experience can be managed. Customer journeys can be modeled and customer experience-related measures can be managed holistically, starting from the strategy.

Managing customer experience began to interest me, but many times the challenge was the structures and operating models of organizations. They did not support the advancement of the matter, vertical organization, and behavior vs. holistic and lateral customer action. Mental models should be changed throughout the organization, both strategically and operationally, so that the customer experience can genuinely become a competitive advantage for the company. The customer should not be the last thing to consider. It should be part of the company's DNA, and organization should revolve around the customer. Darn, that would require a transformation at the company level, i.e., a cultural change.

My life as a strategist

Instead of the customer experience being a separate matter, it should be integrated into the company's decision-making at all levels, starting from the strategy. The strategy should always aim for a competitive advantage, identifying how to differentiate and also considering where to play and what is one's position in it. How can the customer be incorporated into the strategic level so that the strategy is not based solely on financial analyses, but also considers customer behavior and future trends, for instance? I became interested in strategy, attended courses, and the corners of the table were filled with literature related to strategy. I got to create strategies, both business and product strategies, strategies for individual functions, data strategies, etc.

However, while creating strategies, it became frustrating that even they usually don't reach the goal. This tragedy is also supported by strategy-related research from around the world, most strategies fail unfortunately. Strategic focus areas remain too high-level, and no one considers what each focus area practically means in the big picture. Individual teams get to interpret the strategy from their perspective, instead of conceptualizing focus areas together. The problem became the implementation of the strategy, goal setting, and measurement.

Towards systemic value creation

The only certain thing in life is change, and this applies to both organizations and individuals. We live in a complex world, and the lifecycles of companies are shortening even further. Instead of starting a decline, companies should be able to renew themselves, reinvent themselves. However, this requires new ways of thinking and operating. We talk about transformations, which always involve a cultural change. They change management, strategy-making, and decision-making at all levels of the company. Companies should change from within, but also in their operating models in relation to other actors.

Increasingly, there has been talk about the responsibility of companies to society. It is not enough to create value for customers and the company itself, but value should also be created for society. No single entity can solve climate change, for instance. It requires cooperation between different actors, involving both companies and governments of different countries.

The complex world requires an understanding of wholes and the relationships between things, a proactive approach, not looking in the rearview mirror. More and more, a systemic approach is needed both within the company and in its ecosystems. Value is no longer created alone, but together with the ecosystem. Traditional value creation has been replaced by systemic value creation, which aims for sustainable growth. Systemic value creation and change are things I want to focus on more.