Stop Tinkering with Your Corporate Strategy

In a fast-evolving competitive environment, businesses can be tempted to routinely update their strategy. This is a mistake. Strategy setting should occur once a decade. Despite management folklore, they’re not “constantly reinventing themselves.” Yes, they’ve been vigilant. True, there’s plenty of work to occupy managers and advisors taking stock, and calibrating new initiatives, as opportunities arise. But they tend to avoid frequent changes in direction. Instead, they set a long-term horizon — usually a decade or more — to pursue growth while staying true to the kind of business they set out to be.