In conference rooms all across the country, executives are caught up in strategic conversations right out of a Eugene O’Neill play: What’s wrong? How bad is it? Who’s to blame? What’s to be done? People’s answers to these questions all too often clash, generating point-counterpoint debates that waste precious time and produce poor choices. Underlying all strategic choices are steering mechanisms that drive how those choices get framed, discussed, understood, and ultimately made. When strategic conversations go awry, you need to shift attention onto those mechanisms or risk making choices you’ll forever regret.

.Com, the e-commerce initiative of an established company with a dominant market position in a fragmented industry, was seen as a pivotal opportunity to consolidate the market. Sales were increasing and the growth possibilities were enormous. As the president of .Com said, "We have this strategic choice in front of us as a company. Our group has to make its voice known. This could become the center of the company." Along with rapid growth came a critical challenge. Before it could make its voice…

One of the first things Chris ever said to us is that people design action to achieve intended consequences. If you help them understand the nature of the design you’d have a very powerful lever for helping people improve their effectiveness. That was the starting point for applying Chris’s ideas.