#137—Peter Compo: The Emergent Approach to Strategy

 Peter Compo is the author of The Emergent Approach to Strategy: Adaptive Design & Execution. Unlike many strategists from universities and consulting firms, Compo builds his groundbreaking work first as a musician and a scientist (he holds a doctorate in Chemical Engineering), and then gained experience in the “corporate trenches” at DuPont. Hired as a research scientist, he held leadership positions in product, marketing, supply chain, and business management where he served as the Director of DuPont Ventures, focusing on new business ventures, and later as the Director of Corporate Integrated Business Planning, where he was responsible for overseeing the company's strategic planning processes. His varied background and passions inspired his unique perspective that business—particularly business strategy—often mirrors science and music, inspiring him to write The Emergent Approach. Peter’s mission is to create a new level of clarity on strategy by debunking the idea that strategy is cascading and top-down. Instead, his concept of “emergent” strategy proposes that strategic planning is agile, constantly transforming as new information and situations present themselves.In this podcast, we discuss:How strategy, similarly to evolution and scientific breakthroughs, isn’t just selecting what works, but rather a series of discarding what doesn’t work  How execution isn't just about following a list and getting good results — but rather adhering to a strategy until new information proves the hypothesis or framework is wrongHow leaders can help facilitate and guide strategic direction across teams and functions without putting too many constraints that hinder performance A preview of techniques and tools from his book that leaders can apply to jumpstart the emergent approach in defining your strategy_______________________________________________________________________________Episode Timeline:00:00—Highlight from today's episode01:23—Introducing Peter + the topic of today’s episode04:30—If you really know me, you know that...06:20—What is your definition of strategy?07:44—Can two organizations with the same goals have different strategies? 08:51—The meaning of "Emergent" 09:40—How did your background in music and science lead you to strategy? 13:22—Peter's musical background 14:25—Strategy mirroring music: structure precedes improvisation 17:24—Strategy is more than just goals and execution 18:26—Trade-offs between departments require strategic guidance  23:05—Strategy helps resolve conflicts between business functions  27:22—Lessons from sports: the role of strategy in team coordination 31:32—Strategic adaptation and innovation 33:37—Entrepreneurs and scientists share an obsession with solving bottlenecks  35:34—Strategy should focus on internalization  38:24—Five disqualifiers to test if you really have a strategy 42:35—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?__________________________________________________________________________Additional Resources:Personal website: https://emergentapproach.com/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/petercompo/Link to book: The Emergent Approach to StrategyThank you to our executive producer Zach Ness, our producer Nazanin Homayoun Jam and our editor James Pearce. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast