Strategy is a Creative Act

Earlier this year, our friends at Roundpeg Consulting, LLC hosted a great discussion on “Thinking Differently.” One insight from Blu Dot co-founder Maurice Blanks provocatively rang true: Creativity isn’t just for designers or marketing departments. Every function in a company needs to embrace it. Couldn’t agree more!

𝗜’𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗶𝘀—𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚—𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁. That doesn’t mean ditching structure or discipline. It just means that strategy represents more than an analytical exercise: It's blending data with vision, logic with provocative ideas, and profits with purpose. It requires left and right-brain capabilities working in tandem at an extremely high level—solving, synthesizing, imagining, and ultimately bringing strategy to life (arguably the hardest part!). As the esteemed Michael Porter and others have enlightened, strategy is about combining unique systems of capabilities, activities, and ideas to create value. Key word: Create

The problem? As so many of us know firsthand… day to day, who has time to be creative or dynamically strategic? An occasional offsite barely fills the void. According to some at Bain & Company, too many companies get stuck in rinse-and-repeat “spreadsheet strategy.” It’s safe. It’s familiar. But it misses the intangibles—culture, brand, people, and underlying operating principles—that actually make or break strategic success, especially in high-stakes M&A.

So what now, especially in the age of AI? Will strategy become increasingly uniform and bot-driven? Will it exacerbate “spreadsheet strategy” or liberate it? Either way, I’d still bet the future belongs to the bold. The creative. The ones willing to think differently—and make space for it.

Can’t find that space inside your org? Go outside. Creativity isn’t a luxury. It’s your edge.