By J. Michael Barrett, Michael Cadenazzi and Ryan Braden
The concepts of formalized strategy, and the associated deliberate planning processes strategy entails, have fallen on hard times recently. Unpredictable and unmanageable risks seem to abound, and no matter what strategy is followed, events like Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill and the changing of political parties in Congress and the White House can dramatically affect anyone's bottom line.
Yet just because we can't control everything doesn't mean we can expect success by abandoning that which can be influenced. What has changed is not the need for strategy, but the nature of the strategy that is needed. Indeed, in an era of uncertainty the right kind of informed, flexible and dynamic strategies are even more important than ever before.
