Stop eating frogs.

A lot of people think strategy happens in boardrooms with flip charts and important people saying momentous things.

In this episode we argue that you're doing strategy when you decide what to do with your next three hours. (It's very strategic of you to spend 22 minutes listening).

We introduce the strategy ladder — or is it a cargo net? — a way to think about how your influence can scale from individual hours to organisational quarters, without you needing to set up shop in a glass-walled war room.

Including-but-not-limited-to

• Why strategy definitions are contradictory and often just marketing
• Why "strategic" often just means "more expensive"
• Hidden hierarchy games and what they mean for influence in the workplace
• The difference between real strategy and expensive to-do lists
• How to be less unstrategic with your next 1-3 hours (and why that matters)
• The two scales that strategy operates on: time and people
• Why you can't set SMART goals on things outside your control
• Environment design vs willpower: the biscuit shelf principle
• Mouse-wiggling surveillance and the intrinsic motivation alternative
• Why other people don't want their behaviour changed (spoiler: it's none of your damn business)

This one's for anyone who's tired of feeling like strategy is happening somewhere else.

If you've got a better metaphor than a cargo net, or great examples of Monday morning strategic thinking, drop us an email: tentacles@crownandreach.com (& if you've tried before and got a bounce notification, please try again – we fixed it!)

References

• John Cutler's "1s and 3s" time horizons concept: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-1453-1s-and-3s
• Experimental History's Excuse me but why are you eating so many frogs? https://www.experimental-history.com/p/repost-excuse-me-but-why-are-you
• Theory X vs Theory Y management approaches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
• Reddit thread about Eat That Frog: https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/comments/108tgov/eat_that_frog/

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've just published the video from our first-ever Multiverse Mapping Live! session, and this podcast episode is the debrief we had straight after we finished recording.

We recorded it while wandering through the woods, complete with a crumbling walkway and the occasional navigational hiccough.

Some stuff we talked about

• Tom was sweating bullets the whole time, but thankfully it didn't come across
• How do we remember to do more of the zooming out? That's when everything clicks!
• How to "close the game" properly (shoutout Dave Gray)
• Why some experiments need an overnight digestion period
• The challenge of delivering insights on a schedule vs. letting them emerge naturally
• How to turn your expertise into live content (even when you're terrified)
• The difference between safe, prefabricated examples and real-world messiness
• Why "interesting things are interesting if you're interested in them" might be our most profound insight yet

This is what strategy work actually looks like - not the polished case studies, but the real, messy, human process of figuring things out together.

AND we're looking for volunteer #2. Could that be you? Drop us a message: hello@crownandreach.com

• Pragati Sinha (session participant): https://www.linkedin.com/in/pragatisinha/
• Katia Tkachenko 👋 (who suggested Twitch streaming 3 years ago)
• Dave Gray's "Gamestorming" book https://gamestorming.com/
• Rob Snyder's PULL framework https://howtogrow.substack.com/p/the-pull-framework
• Multiverse Mapping method/course https://multiversemapping.com
• Innovation Tactics deck https://collabs.shop/yxzsjg
• Can I ship a new business idea in an hour? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Kma97f9v4

Contact:

• tentacles@crownandreach.com
• crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cover up! It's sunny out.

When uncertainty feels impossible, most teams freeze. In this episode Tom and Corissa unpack a three-phase cycle that's powered by getting it wrong first.

They unpack their "Unpack, Unleash, Unfold" framework through real examples - from a messy logo redesign to a heart rate variability app that nobody could figure out how to use.

We also float across the vision chasm between leadership and teams and realise it isn't a bug, it's a feature.

Plus: how embracing deliberate wrongness can accelerate breakthrough.

Including-but-not-limited-to

• Why your detailed vision might be holding you back
• The logo redesign that's a very simple example of how unpack, unleash, unfold works
• How a month-long breathing challenge took 3 or 4 unfoldings to get to, and is now revealing hidden product insights
• Markets are terrible at knowing what they want but brilliant at reacting to options
• The curse of knowledge that kills every internal product demo
• Building bridges over the vision chasm (or knowing when not to bother)
• Why some people thrive in uncertainty while others need linear processes

Plus: An (another) introduction to "pitch provocations" - their method for being deliberately wrong in exactly the right way.

Perfect for product teams, strategists, and anyone trying to build something meaningful in an uncertain world.

If you have questions, stories to share, or ideas for a better name for "unleash" (maybe "understudy" or "undergo") – drop us an email: tentacles@crownandreach.com

• Episode 112: Unpacking, unleashing and unfolding part 1 https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/685ffe34081ac1df5d8cb371
• Article: Bunny Ducking – part 3 of the vision chasm series https://reach.crownandreach.com/posts/bunny-ducking
• Innovation Tactics by Pip Decks https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics
• Pitch Provocations card (front | back)
• Episode 007: Pitch Provocations part 1 https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9326

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.