Ever tried to cut a paper with a hammer? Nope. Me neither. Wrong tool for the task at hand. We are often limited by the tools at our disposal. When the only tool we have is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. Wish that was original, but I have heard this on more than one occasion.
Our tendency is to drift to what we know — to use our limited skill set, whether it fits the problem or not. We apply it with the best precision possible, even if the tool does not solve the problem.
We tend to shift to tactics and operations, when developing strategy is outside our comfort zone. This is not a function of title, or pay scale, or desire. It’s a function of what we know. And what we do well.
We must work hard to educate ourselves to develop the right managerial tool kit, to solve the right business problems the right way. Or we can just walk around, hammer in hand, trying to nail our problems away.
About Hemant Rustogi