The Ultimate Strategist

In the last four months or so, I have written articles strictly on business strategy. Every week as I wrote about business, the question continued to return to me-Is there more to success in business than some strategy principles? Is there an X-factor which academic theory, management experience or the human mind can not account for? This week, I write not about business strategy, but about the ultimate strategist-God. He describes himself in the first and last chapters in Revelation. In 1:8-he says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord; which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” and in 22:13 he says simply, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

Talking about him, Revelation 4: 11 says “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” In Gen 1:17 when he appeared to Abram, he described himself as “the Almighty God”. In Gen 35:11 he said the same to Jacob, “I am God Almighty…” The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote in 9: 11, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all” Psalm 75: 6-7 says “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another”

The only thing they don’t teach in you in business schools is the place of the Almighty God, by whose Grace man stands. What the Bible calls “grace”, we call in strategy, “timing and windows of opportunity”, strikingly similar to what was called “time and chance” in Ecclesiastes. Some call it luck, or connections, or positioning or whatever. When we teach about Vision, God taught it first, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” in Proverbs 29:18 or “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it would surely come, it would not tarry” in Habakkuk 2:3, a counsel that reminds one of the need for strategic discipline-firms (and individuals) continuing on a strategic path with discipline and commitment until the strategy comes to fruition.

Ephesians 3:2 talks about “the dispensation of the grace of God”, Ephesians 2:8-10 says “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”. Every intellect, every good looks, every academic or professional brilliance, every gift of speech, every “good” and “perfect” gift is from the Lord. The Bible says in James 1:17 that, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” Even the “power to get wealth” is given by God. “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day”-Deut 8: 18.

In slightly different language from business school language, God teaches about environmental scanning, or industry and competitor analysis or indeed strategic planning. “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?”-Luke 14:28 In the specific case of competitor analysis, God like most strategy writers adopts the paradigm of warfare, “Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth (hear, hear…even God talks about consultants!) whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand”-Luke 14:31.

God also taught about delegation, empowerment, organizational structure, leadership recruitment etc. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.”-Numbers 11:16-17. Jesus had the twelve disciples and sent out the seventy. Even in heaven, God Almighty had the three archangels to oversee the multitude of angels.

The parable of the talents is about resourcefulness. The man who traveled into a far country in Mathew 25:14-30, being the investor or shareholder, and the servants with five, two and one talent, the Managers. The principle God laid down in that parable is Return on Investment. It is not the absolute numbers that matter, but the relationship between the amount invested and the returns in percentage terms. If I can write about God in my column once a while I better do it, if in your case you have a pulpit you’d better use it for God and not for self, if it is money you have you better give some. God will check, not the absolute numbers, but the relationship between the returns and the talents he deposited!

Finally one of my convictions about competitive advantage is that there is a correlation between intangibility and sustainability of sustainable advantages. My point being that tangible or physical advantages tend not to be sustainable, while intangible factors like competences, brands, culture, “software” tend to endure. It was interesting the other day when a student pointed out (as if I didn’t know) that he wasn’t surprised at my hypothesis, because the bible already said so! In 2 Cor 4:18, the Bible said, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Men are congenitally tactical-always acting short-term. God is the ultimate strategist-always playing for the end-game.

Postscript-Aketiya Esene (RIP)
This article is dedicated to Mrs Aketiya Esene. She was in the ADC plane that crashed in Abuja on October 29, 2006. I saw her that morning on the Third Mainland Bridge. She sped past me in her little car, and waved enthusiastically at me. I wondered where she was going in such a hurry. I waved back, and even when she was out of sight, I waved again. Now I know why. She flew to Abuja on ADC, I went on Virgin Nigeria.