The Blindness of the Moment – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

Balancing tactics and strategy to adapt and keep moving

Photo by Jeremy Lishner on Unsplash

In the middle of a crisis, it makes sense to lead from the battlefield, trading a strategic, visionary outlook for a very short-term one that at least ensures survival. In the heat of battle it’s hard to set plans, timelines and resources, and harder still to execute them. With this much uncertainty, complexity and volatility, we plan for A and get B. Here’s how to manage the balance between tactics and strategy, which I believe will be the new normal.

Strategy lets us map paths that, followed and executed with discipline, deliver the results we expect. Today, with uncertainty everywhere, plans change from one moment to the next, and adaptability becomes our main weapon, for defense and for taking the initiative. Long-term horizons are more unpredictable than ever, and we seem to have lost the ability to plan the way we always did in predictable times.

Meanwhile, the tactics we improvise become lessons, both wins and chances to improve. Tactics that work feed back into a better strategy or, at their best, become strategies in their own right that keep securing our success as conditions shift.

In our rush to evolve, we may drift (knowingly or not) toward wanting to be the star of the orchestra and forget that the system is a team of musicians. A conductor can pick out every note on every instrument, yet never loses sight of where to look during the performance, who’s playing, who’s listening and which masterpiece is being performed.

Life is a continuum, and measuring time gives us a solid basis for decisions. With an uncertain future and uncertain contexts ahead, the blend of strategy and tactics becomes our main tool for facing reality and adapting to the new context. The point is balance between the two, plus the vision we consciously choose from here on, with no need to pick one over the other.

What were your plans and horizons? What are you doing with your plans now? How are you adapting to change?

Warm regards and my best wishes as always,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. 1. This week’s VELA:

• What I’ve been Viewing: Victor Hugo and my literary passions. It may be one of the best videos I’ve ever watched. Seeing and hearing Mario Vargas Llosa talk about Victor Hugo and share so many detailed anecdotes was a wonderful experience, and an invitation to read more about the celebrated author of masterpieces like Les Misérables.
• What I’ve been Listening to: Chill Out Jazz & Bossa Nova. A wonderful YouTube channel for good music. I admit I’ve never been one for music while I read, write or work. One of the real changes COVID-19 is bringing me, though, is trying out what happens when I add music to my time, and I’ve let myself be surprised.
• What I’ve been Reading: Verónica y otros cuentos fantásticos. A short book of wonderful stories by the great Rubén Darío. They’re rather dark, yet they reveal part of the poet’s life, his time in Argentina and a side of him I didn’t know: his gift for narrative, especially short stories that unsettle you from start to finish.
• What I’ve been Learning: KWA: Ecuadorian recipes. A wonderful YouTube channel with great recipes. At my university I met wonderful people from Ecuador, and during our long days of work and study I heard how much they missed their families and their food. This year my son Rodrigo and I have cooked several recipes from this channel. I recommend it, and I invite you to follow these two brothers, who are a huge hit. Simple, delicious recipes 🙂

P.S. 2. Happy Mother’s Day, with all my appreciation to everyone reading this post, to your wives and to your dear mothers. A big, warm hug.

P.S. 3. If you’d like to join us for a webinar today, Sunday, you’re warmly invited to register. I’ll be speaking at this SmartWebinar organized with the Zamorano alumni community, the Agribusiness program and related programs, presenting "Lessons Learned: How do we identify what to do differently from now on?". You can register by clicking here (feel free to share the link with anyone you think would get value from it).

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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