What is strategy story creation through ISHIKI(consciousness) management?
In the previous article, I talked about the last process of the value creation process, “Co-creation of strategies,” in depth from the perspective of consciousness management. As for the content of strategy from the perspective of consciousness management, what I have discussed in the previous articles is the whole. However, because of the wide range of topics covered, I would like to give a general overview of what we have talked about so far as the last article in the chapter on strategy.
The entire chapter has been described as zooming in from a macro perspective to a micro perspective. In this article, I would like to describe the opposite flow, zooming out from a micro perspective to a macro perspective.
Micro Perspective: Value Creation Process and SECI Model
In my last article, I talked about the theme of strategy co-creation/emergence, introducing the SECI model and the importance of using different modes of consciousness in strategy co-creation/emergence so that the SECI model can run successfully.
I introduced the SECI model as a collaborative process between oneself and others for the last process of the value creation process, but in fact, the entire value creation process (1) to (6) can be linked to the SECI model.
In my previous article, I mentioned that it is important to apply the SECI model to the strategy co-creation/emergence (6), but the processes (1) through (5) can also be viewed as representing each quadrant of the SECI model.
While (1) through (5) can be regarded as consciousness processes within the individual, and (6) as consciousness processes in a group ( or as interaction between individuals and groups), it is closer to the image that individual and group processes proceed in parallel, rather than the image that there is an individual consciousness process followed by a group collaborative process.
This is consistent with the SECI model, which describes knowledge creation through the interaction of individuals and groups.
Let’s take a look again at the overall picture of the value creation process.
When creating each of the value elements that make up a strategy story, it is important to implement the value creation process shown in the figure above, where individuals and groups interact with each other.
Using the 3+1 consciousness model as an auxiliary line, it is effective to become aware of which consciousness to activate in each process of value creation. For example, in (1) Intuition of a strategy story, we activate the intuitive consciousness (+ meta-consciousness), and in (2) ethnography, activate bodily consciousness.
Meso (between micro and macro) perspective: story to create strategy stories
So far, I have talked about the value creation process for creating value elements in strategy stories from a micro perspective, and let’s shift our perspective to a more macro perspective.
It is the five steps that I introduced as the “Hirano Model” as a story for creating strategy stories. The fifth “value creation” step in the Hirano model is the value creation process that I explained earlier in detail.
Conversely, steps (1) through (4) in the Hirano model are the preliminary steps of the value creation process. I personally believe that this is a very important point. This is because “creating value through the interaction of individuals and groups” is not the first step in creating a strategy story.
If we try to create value out of the blue, it won’t work. This is because we don’t have our own inner energy and colleagues who can empathize with us. It’s like trying to make a lot of delicious food without the ingredients nor customers to eat it.
This is so important that I cannot overemphasize how important it is. When thinking about strategy, I sometimes see people trying to plan strategies by studying the market environment and the competitive situation. I think this is also typical of the mistake of trying to create value out of the blue.
The value creation process I mentioned at the beginning of this article is only a part of the whole from this perspective.
It starts with individuals becoming aware of their own subjective truths, opening their hearts, and then transmitting those subjective truths. From this ecosystem-like group of people who are attracted to the subject truth, friends and customers are born. Then, by sharing each other’s personalized stories as if they were wearing the other person’s shoes, the ground is set for the creation of strategic stories.
Only in this kind of ground can the value elements of the strategic story be created through the value creation process in the interaction between individuals and groups.
What is the most important thing in creating this kind of ground?
It was to begin with the connections to the subjective truth. The beginning of creating a strategy story is an individual’s subjective truth. Subjective truth is one of my most important keywords, as it means “An ideal that makes life worth living for us, a purpose for living that is unique to us.”
Macro perspective: perceiving in three dimensions
So far, I have talked about the value creation process as a micro perspective, and the “Hirano model” as a meso (between micro and macro) perspective, and let’s move on to the macro perspective.
From the most macroscopic perspective, the creation of a strategy story can be seen as an interaction between three dimensions.
The first is the value dimension, which is the dimension we usually assume when we talk about strategy. The second is the ecosystem dimension, which represents the connections and interactions among people in general. The third dimension is the dimension of consciousness, which describes the human consciousness that has not yet been embodied in values, such as subjective truths and the flow of consciousness in the world.
Consciousness is the root of phenomena. Our consciousness influences our words and actions, and our words and actions create things. In this sense, we can say that the dimension of consciousness is the most fundamental dimension.
The relationship between this macro perspective and the Hirano model can be seen as the Hirano model describing the steps of value creation while moving back and forth between these three macro dimensions.
There are many books on management strategy, but I think most of them talk about the value dimension. Of course, it is important to talk about the value dimension, but I believe that if we confine ourselves to that, we run the risk of overlooking what is important and essential.
Typical examples of this are the misconception that things take precedence over people in strategy, and the misconception that strategy begins with market analysis.
On the other hand, I am not saying that the value dimension is not important. In the value dimension, balancing customer value and differentiation from the competition is essential for continuous profit generation and sustainable growth.
In the value dimension, we talked about drawing a dynamic strategy story, rather than a static strategy, in order to realize both customer value and differentiation from the competition.
If we can differentiate ourselves not only as a Level 1 or Level 2 competitive advantage, but also as a Level 3 or Level 4 dynamic strategy story, our customer value will increase and our differentiation from the competition will be stronger.
It is important to note, however, that these value creation and differentiation are only “the result”, and simply chasing this result will not make it happen.
In order to realize this kind of value creation and differentiation, it is important to start with subjective truth, as expressed in the Hirano model, and go through the steps of gaining the empathy of the people around us, and then follow a value creation process in which individuals and groups interact with each other.
Overview of strategy story creation
The following figure summarizes what we have discussed so far. If you have understood the contents of this chapter so far, you may feel the sense of wholeness expressed by this figure.
This article concludes this chapter on the theme of strategy. In the next article, I would like to talk about the theme of “improvement and innovation” from the perspective of consciousness management.
.Here are the quests of the day. (If you’d like, please share your thoughts in the comments.)
・Think of the business strategy of a team or organization that you belong to or are involved with. What do you notice when you look at your team’s or organization’s business strategy with the overall strategic story (all of the macro, meso, and micro perspectives) discussed in this article as an auxiliary line?
・In order to create a good strategy story, how do you think you can implement consciousness management?
Bunshiro Ochiai
