November 27, 2025 • 28 mins
Strategy isn’t a wishlist—it’s a series of tough choices about where to play and how to win. In this episode, economist, entrepreneur, and Strategic Value Creation author Rupert Morrison joins Bill Banham to break down why so many organisations confuse goals with strategy, and how to build a simple, practical system that links strategy to plans, KPIs, and boardroom decisions.
Rupert walks through the core steps: define your unique value factors, map the capabilities that power them, and capture the activity system on one page. Then make it real with a plan-on-a-page showing today’s metrics, five-year targets, and the critical initiatives across customer, revenue, operations, finance, and people.
We also cover how to test for defensible advantage—network effects, brand strength, cornered resources, process power—so your organisation is building something competitors can’t easily copy.
For leaders wrestling with reporting, Rupert explains why most board packs fail and introduces a clear “view from the bridge” approach: start with highlights, lowlights, key issues, and explicit recommendations, then support the narrative with data. He also lifts the lid on private equity portfolio reporting and how tracking against the investment thesis can sharpen focus in any organisation.
If you want to turn ambition into a genuine advantage, this episode is for you!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
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SPEAKER_02 (00:26):
Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Podcast.
Hello, listeners.
This is your host today, BillBannham.
And in this episode, I'mdelighted to welcome back to the
show after far too long.
Rupert Morrison, economist,former manager and consultant,
serial entrepreneur, and founderof Org View and Ahari.
(00:46):
Rupert has spent his careerhelping organizations see
themselves more clearly from alldesign and workforce planning to
sharper board reporting andvalue creation.
We talk about the idea behindhis new venture, the thinking
that shaped his latest book,Strategic Value Creation, and
(01:07):
why so many organizations stillconfuse plans with strategy.
Rupert also breaks down whatmakes a strong board pack, why
weak ones derail decisionmaking, and how his work with
private equity firms onportfolio reporting connects
back to the fundamentals oforganizational clarity and
(01:28):
capability.
If you care about betterdecisions, better data, and
better strategy, thisconversation with Rupert will
give you plenty to chew on.
I hope you enjoy my conversationwith Rupert Morrison.
Rupert, it's my pleasure afterafter a while to welcome you
back to the channel.
SPEAKER_01 (01:48):
It's been way too long, quite a few years.
How are you?
You know, Bill, I'm alwaysliving the dream, just different
dreams.
Um I'm good, thank you.
I'm really good.
SPEAKER_02 (01:58):
I mentioned to you before we hit record today that
I was watching uh your podcaston YouTube earlier, and I think
you gave the same answer.
Always living the dream.
I know.
It's a good answer.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
But I am living the dream.
I'm I I love what I do.
So if you love what you do, thenhow many people can say that?
SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
All right.
Well, without giving the gameaway, because we're going to get
into what you're up to thesedays in just a minute.
Let's let's just pose thatquestion.
What why do you love doing whatyou do?
What problems is it solving?
What why does it why does itmotivate you to get out of bed
in the morning?
SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
I just well, A, I'll be honest, I like working.
So like when I was a child and Ihad to go and work in the wool
shed or something, I was just Iwas happy.
If I had to go and do, you know,work with the sheep and do
docking or whatever.
I loved it.
So I just love working.
So maybe I'd be happy doinganything.
(02:53):
Um, and then I've somehowmanaged to manufacture a
scenario where I can work onsolving problems that I think
are really interesting to solve.
Um, so that started with orgdesign and work was planning in
my first business that I that Istarted, analytics.
I love data, I'm an economist byeducation.
(03:14):
So I've kind of geared my careeraround things that I'm
interested in and problems thatI like to solve.
And that's true in with my newventure, Arahi, as well.
You know, I'm I'm solving ameaty problem that I'm really
interested in doing.
And I think the other thing thatmakes work interesting is
variation.
So it's, you know, my clientsare very, which is fascinating.
(03:37):
Um, but also I spend a lot oftime working with my developers,
which is I love, I lovedeveloping software.
Um, but I'm still doing someconsulting work with clients,
and I love being out there withclients and helping them.
So it's that variation andmixture.
I I'm not very good at followingprocess, you know, so if I'd
have to do the same thing everyday, I'd that would be
(03:59):
torturous.
Um, don't idle well.
So if you'd say to me, righthere you go, you have all the
money in the world, but youcan't work again, I would, I
would turn that away.
I wouldn't, I would not takethat that offer.
SPEAKER_02 (04:14):
So today uh we are we're uh we're talking about
strategy and um board reporting.
Um you mentioned just a secondago, Ahari, your new business.
Uh what's the what's the bigidea behind the new business and
and why did you start it?
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
A couple of things.
First, you know, I mean, some ofyour listeners may know me.
The last time you interviewedme, we were talking about org
design.
And you could ask the question,how do you go from org design to
to strategy and board reporting?
So um, whenever you do orgdesign, the first question you
ask is, what's the strategy?
And you would expect that mostorganizations, most companies
(04:52):
would have a very good answer tothat question.
Um, the the truth is they don't.
The truth is org design isactually very hard to do because
most of the time uhorganizations don't have a
clear, well-articulated,well-differentiated strategy.
And I just thought that is athat's it just amazed me every
(05:15):
time it amazed me.
And you know, you mentioned mypodcast, I I ask, you know, I
mean, I've obviously done thework with lots of different
clients.
I'm got some gray hairs now, I'mgetting older.
Uh but I speak to other peoplewho do org design a lot, and
they have the same experience.
So that was the first thing, andthen it got me thinking from
(05:37):
first principles, actually, whatis strategy?
Like, you know, I've been amanagement consultant, I've been
a CEO, I've done, I've done thisstuff.
And I I I I asked myself thequestion, can I really
articulate what it is and how todo it?
And have I always always beengood at creating, you know, I
call it designing a strategy.
(05:57):
Um and I probably wasn't great.
So I went back and researched,you know, read over 50 books,
did a lot of soul searching, alot of reading, and you know,
wrote another book, um,strategic value creation, in
part, so I could answer thatquestion.
And we don't have enough time togo through it, but you know,
basically I distilled it down toeight questions.
(06:20):
But the simplest way to answerthe question is, you know, where
to play and how to win, um,which um you know wasn't it
wasn't my phraseology, but thatthat's a nice way of thinking
about it.
But it's more than that becauseyou need to understand your
ambition, you need to understandyour economic engine, how you
(06:43):
make money that has to tie to topurpose and passion.
So, you know, you can have allthe right ideas, but if you're
not extremely motivated, umobsessively motivated, you
you're probably not gonnasucceed, you know, in being the
best of the world at doing thething you want to do.
So it's distilling all thatdown.
And where people get confused isbetween that and a plan.
(07:06):
So often say, so what is yourstrategy?
And they will just have a listof aspirations.
Oh, we want to be number one inthis industry, or we want to
grow by 25% or whatever, andlike, okay, that's a goal.
That's something you want,that's an outcome you want to
achieve.
That's a dream, living thedream.
That's a dream.
But how are you gonna get that?
How you configure all yourcapabilities so that you can get
(07:30):
there, um, that's a differentthing.
And and and that's where peopleget confused, and you know,
overly simplistic in theirthinking/slash not thinking.
Um that's one element of it.
The other element is is theboard and board reporting, and
I, you know, being a CEO of a Pback business, you know, I had
(07:51):
to build board packs.
And I would ask numerousinvestors and other private
equity firms, can you give me anexample of a good board pack?
And they all said no, they'rewe're too embarrassed to share.
Um, you know, and and you know,looking around, it's most boards
don't have a great pack andsomething that links to the
(08:13):
strategy.
I call it the red line from thestrategy to the plan to what the
board discusses and how you workthrough on a on a cadence.
So you everyone is aligned andworking to execute that strategy
so you can maximize the chanceof return.
So it's it's that connection.
Um, it was those two sort ofideas, really, and connecting
(08:34):
those that led me to a Rahi andanother SaaS platform, another
you know, piece of software tohelp people do this.
SPEAKER_02 (08:42):
I guess the most obvious question for what you
just mentioned there is how howdoes an organization analyze
their capabilities and and theirhuman assets and and all the all
the possible ways that theycould get to what what they what
they envisage the company shouldstand for.
Um, you know, what are some ofthose processes to analyze?
SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
So at the strategy level, it's it's probably more
high level than what you'rethinking about.
So um Michael Porter talkedabout the activity system.
Uh I I kind of distilled hisactivity system so into I think
different constituent parts.
So what one of the value, whatvalue factors, what value do you
provide to your customer that isdifferentiating and makes you
(09:27):
unique?
And it's the combination ofthose value factors.
Um and then what corecapabilities do you need so you
can execute those?
And that this all fits on onepage, Bill.
So these are you know, in termsof number of value factors, uh
it might be three or four thingsthat make you unique.
It's it's not a long laundrylist.
(09:50):
Um what are therefore the thekey processes, the key KPIs, the
key policies that need to be inplace?
And that creates like a graphdiagram or a web and you know,
like a system on one page.
And that's a for strategy,that's the level, that's all you
need to go to.
Um Porter wrote about thisstuff, you know, 30 odd years
(10:13):
ago.
Like, so it's it's not complex,it's just just doing that, and
that's that's one of the eightquestions.
Um it's really at that level,and then you know, you can
always break these things downto you know, other strategies
like a functional strategy or abusiness unit strategy, so these
(10:36):
things can cascade, but theyshould always align to that
overarching corporate strategy,you know, at the top of the
tree.
SPEAKER_02 (10:45):
Okay, so higher level strategy, and then you're
getting deep into it withdifferent plans.
Can you define for us thedifference between a plan and a
strategy?
SPEAKER_01 (10:54):
Sure.
So a plan is how you're going todo this, how you configure the
capabilities, the value youprovide provide to the customer
versus the competition.
So it's in the context of amarket, who you're selling to,
so what segments you're sellingto, and why they they would buy,
(11:14):
say what's your value propertyinto that, how you make money.
So you all those elements haveto be designed so they're all
consistent together.
It's it's a whole set ofquestions.
Um, what is the crux?
What's the key thing you need toovercome?
Uh, versus a plan is what arethe steps you need to do to
(11:34):
execute on things, to changethings, so you can do those
things.
So think of the plan is we'rehere today, we need to do A, B,
C, and we'll get to this point.
Um, and you can't do everythingat once.
So you it's prioritization, it'sscheduling, uh, and and and so
(11:54):
that's what a plan is.
We're gonna do these things toget here.
Now, like all these things, allthings have to be true.
So you you need to, if you don'thave a good strategy, a
differentiated strategy that'sreally compelling, you're going
to fail.
Um, there are other tests aswell.
Um, you know, how are you goingto get power in the market?
(12:18):
So, you know, are there networkeffects?
Um, there's the Hamilton Haloseven um powers, which is
another framework.
Apologies, this framework's fromheaded um the wazoo, but you
know, what what are the thingsthat you have in the marketplace
that give you power?
So you can, if you wantdifferentiated margins and
(12:41):
returns, which often goodstrategy leads to differentiated
returns because you you havesomething that is that is unique
and that what people want, andthat is defend defendable.
A good brand is defensible.
So um process power, corneredresource, those are all things
that give you a network effect.
(13:01):
These are all powers that youhave that mean you can charge
more money relative to what thecompetition can do.
So that the competitive dynamicsis really, really important.
And then what we do is we I callit um a pope plan on a page.
I'm a big believer, Bill, ongetting stuff onto one page so
you can have a properconversation.
(13:22):
And with the Pope, you say,well, where are we today?
So, what are the KPIs today thatmatter the most?
And on one page, one column, bythe key swim lanes in the
organization.
So normally custom would be atthe top, finance and operations
at the bottom.
Um, people will always be oneswim lane typically.
(13:43):
Where are we today?
Where do we want to get to sayin five years' time?
And how do those metrics evolveover five years according to
just a couple of steppingstones?
And then what are the keyinitiatives?
So, what are the things we needto do that are going to make a
dramatic change so we canactually get there in time?
Um, and so getting that on oneplan, so a plan on a page we're
(14:07):
finding is working extremelywell with management teams.
And a lot of this is arounddriving alignment and choice.
You most people try and do toomuch too quickly, um, and that
just leads to failure.
So, what are the the thingstoday, what are the bets today?
If we do these things, it'sgonna have the biggest impact,
(14:27):
or it's gonna lay a foundationfor the next phase.
Um, so that's a big part of theplanning process as well.
As every most organizations haveyou know limited resources.
Um, so how you optimize the theuse of that is is is really
important.
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
Okay, and you obviously have been involved
with fast-scale companies aswell.
I wonder what the differencebetween a board pack for a uh a
smaller, more agile, fastgrowing company that maybe wants
to have an exit strategy andused you know five years uh
earlier on as part of youranswer uh in five years compared
to what that would look likecompared to an established
(15:10):
perhaps larger company beenaround for a while, um, with
with with uh plans to grow uhand and to and and build on
their existing achievements.
What would be the keydifferences between those
business packs?
SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
The dimensions of analysis is is really the the
difference.
So I call them KODs, keyorganizational dimensions.
So as an organization grows, youadd geographies, you add
business units, you know, youadd channels.
So you and and and as you grow,you have levels of
(15:45):
accountability for thosedifferent things.
You have more functions and morefunctions at scale.
So in a way, if you think of it,uh each unit is is not too
dissimilar.
You have a leader of that unit,um, that smallest thing with the
CEO at the top.
And and the a key to a goodboard pack is I I call it the
(16:10):
you know, the view from thebridge.
So a one-page summary ofeverything that's going to
follow, the key things that aregoing to follow.
And I I like to have what arethe highlights, because people
are very bad at celebratingsuccess.
So, what are the highlights?
What are the lowlights?
Um, given that, and given thewhat are the key issues we need
(16:33):
to discuss, what and what arethe key recommendations and why?
And getting that on one page.
And so that means you know, whatare the three key highlights and
the three key lowlights?
So, again, this is communicationtheory.
You can have reams of lowlightsand highlights, but it's it's
(16:53):
helping the reader and in themeeting for people to focus
their time.
And in a way, Bill, if you're asmall organization with 20
employees, or you're a massiveorganization with 200,000
employees, it's human beingsthat are digesting information,
(17:14):
trying to make decisions to pushsomething forward.
It's it's prioritization, it'sprioritizing what are the issues
we need to discuss, whatdecisions do we need to make,
and and and with that, whatrecommendations, if I'm
attending a board meeting, whatrecommendations are you making
management team and why?
So, and and then having thatclearly laid out and summarized
(17:35):
at the beginning.
So, you know, huge, you know,you'll you'll see a theme here,
which is the power of one page.
Because when you're in ameeting, you you want it's the
it's the conversation and it'sgetting to and it's getting to
action.
What are we going to do?
Um, if the meeting is structuredas people sitting, stepping
(18:00):
through reams and reams andreams of pages being presented
to, it's you, you know, youcognitively you're just gonna
tire.
Um but Barbara Minto, who's oneof the you know, the leaders of
uh communication in themanagement consulting world,
have the pyramid principle,which is have the biggest
biggest things at the top and itcascades from there.
(18:22):
What is the big issue that wehave to discuss?
Cascade from there.
So it's leveraging that kind ofthinking, really.
Um, and and I don't care whatscale you are, what industry you
are, that that is just goodpractice, and everyone's trying
to get better, everyone's tryingto grow.
So if you're a a startup, whichyou know I've been, or you're a
scale-up, which I've also youknow, complexity might grow, but
(18:46):
in that meeting, actually, it'sdistilling down to those things,
and it that just takes thoughtup front.
SPEAKER_02 (18:55):
Okay, as part of your answer just a moment ago,
you were uh talking about itkind of sounded like uh you are
uh pro a top-down approach interms of um steering the ship,
leading the company.
Where do you stand on bottom-upcommunication and how that
shapes a company culture aswell?
Is that fine for companyculture?
But actually, strategy should betop-down.
SPEAKER_01 (19:16):
I don't quite see them so mutually exclusive.
Great insight comes fromeverywhere.
Um, it's not and and strategy isnot just a one-and-done, one-off
thing either.
So if you're not listening tothe market, if you're not
listening to customers, if youdon't see the process, you
you're going to fail.
I I guess I see I said buymodal, buy, you know, without
(19:41):
the bottom up, if you're just inan ivory tower, you're gonna be
in deep trouble.
You don't have all those allthat information flowing, and
and vice versa.
Um I I think often goodstrategy, it comes from a kernel
of insight about something,about a market.
Um, now where does that comefrom?
You know, that might come fromthe founder or the CEO, but but
(20:05):
not always, and often not.
And and as you, you know, youasked about scale, and as you
become larger, it it bec youknow that there's a trap of
become becoming more and moredivorced from the market and you
know, from the end customer, um,from the processes, from the you
know, the things that make yougreat.
(20:28):
And uh and and then you'llyou'll if you lose contact with
that, you will fail.
I think this is another one ofthe dilemmas, Earl, is that
there's there's a whole set ofparadoxes in good strategy,
which I've actually I won't boreyou with all, but there's a
whole bunch of things that haveto be simultaneously true that
seem like they'recontradictions.
(20:49):
So um you have to have your headin the cloud and your feet on
the ground.
You know, both things have to betrue, and and I think it's true.
You you you need a top-downvision for the market and a
thesis about why how you'regoing to win and why and where
and all these sorts of things,but simultaneously you need to
(21:12):
be constantly learning anditerating.
Um, so I the world is dynamic.
I don't care how large or smallan organization is, you live in
a dynamic world.
You know, that the averagelifespan of a of an organization
and the standard poor S ⁇ P 500is halved in the last 20 odd
(21:32):
years, 20, 30 years.
Um, you know, so I don't carewho you are, uh, you know, Jeff
Bezos was famously, famouslysaid, I I I know Amazon will
cease to exist at some point, Ijust don't know when I'm trying
to push that date date out.
You know, he I don't care whatorganization you're in, you're
probably the organization'sprobably gonna fail at some
(21:54):
point um and and and struggle.
And and so if you if you thinkthat any of this is a one and
done and you you can rest inyour laurels and and that's it,
um you know statistics will saythat you that's not gonna
happen.
You know, it's just very rare.
So I I I think these it's it'snot a it's not a bottom-up,
(22:16):
top-down, it's both.
It has to be both.
You have to have your head inthe clouds, you have to be
dreaming, and you've got to washyour, you know, be on your cash.
And and what one of the thingsthat like successful founders do
over and over again is they'revery prudent with money, they're
very careful what they spend.
You know, cash management iskey.
(22:37):
Um, you know, so both thingshave to be true, and that's just
with a lot of, you know, ifpeople are looking for one
panacea, like there's one thing,you do that one thing, then
happy days, then guess what?
The the world's just not thatsimple.
Um all the cliches are true, anda lot of cliches are in total
contradiction to each other.
SPEAKER_02 (22:58):
Okay, I think you were gonna say wash wash your
hands as well, which actually isvery important for a farmer, I
would imagine.
There you go.
Um, just two more questionsbefore we do wrap up for today.
Um, just very briefly, verybriefly, you you're doing
portfolio reporting now forprivate equity firms too.
Uh, how did that come about andhow does it relate to value
creation and and boardreporting?
SPEAKER_01 (23:20):
Yeah.
So it was it was a little bit byaccident.
I I have to be honest.
I it was not the plan.
And I was just meeting uh um themanaging partner and some
partners of a private equityfirm talking about value
creation and board reporting,and they said this is really
interesting, but we have aproblem with portfolio
(23:41):
reporting.
And portfolio reporting forlisteners that don't understand
is a PE firm wants to understandthe performance of each of their
investments, and because privateequity, it's active capital
inside that.
So they have board seats, theyoften have majority
shareholding.
So when when a private equityfirm makes an investment, they
(24:03):
will have an investment thesis,they'll have a thesis for today
the valuation is X, let's callit 100, and we want to get that
to 300 or 400.
How are we going to do that?
And then the investmentcommittee will sign off that
investment thesis to make thatinvestment, and so they will
(24:26):
have that signed off, which theyhave to report up to their um
LPs, the people that give themmoney to invest in these
companies.
And so they need to track howthey're doing against that plan
that they set at thatinvestment.
And then what they'll do withmanagement when once they've um
acquired the business oracquired a major stake in the
(24:47):
business, they'll do a thingwhat's called a hundred-day plan
or create a value creation plan.
And a lot of that is is goingback to basics.
So, you know, what is thestrategy, what's the plan, how
are we going to you know get a4x return or 25% IRR in this
period?
And portfolio reporting istracking, you know, all the
(25:09):
management accounts, PL, cashflow balance sheet, all of those
standard things, but also theKPIs.
And then what will happen in aPE firm is they will review that
and they say, where are thereissues?
And what's interesting when youlook across the portfolio, are
there things?
Are there things in each of theportfolio?
And they will try and learn thatand then help each of the
(25:29):
portfolio companies and improve.
And that's part of the valueadd.
It's why, you know, the LPs, thepeople that invest in private
equity, um, it's part of whatthey're paying for.
Uh, so and it's all about valuecreation.
It's all about we're here andhow do we create value with
this?
And different PE firms havedifferent theses and they invest
(25:52):
in different markets anddifferent geographies at
different stages, but that thatpattern is the same across, and
the reporting and portfolioreporting is very similar to the
board reporting, it just hasless detail and it's slightly
more financially oriented.
So the board pack will have,let's say, more sales data and
(26:13):
customer data and operationalinformation.
Um, this is has less of that,but then it's across all the
portfolio.
So it was a natural extensionfor the platform we could do it,
and it was interesting.
So that's that's how we gotinvolved.
SPEAKER_02 (26:29):
Okay, very, very good.
And just finally for today,Rupert, how can our listeners
connect with you?
How can they learn more about ahurry?
And how can they get a copy ofyour latest book or any of your
books for that matter?
SPEAKER_01 (26:42):
So you can get a copy of the books on Amazon or
through Kogan Page, mypublisher.
Uh the latest one is called uhStrategic Value Creation.
Um, there's also data-drivenorganization design, which is my
first book, second edition, um,and organizational planning and
analysis uh is is my second one.
So um you can find me onLinkedIn, it's probably the
(27:02):
easiest way.
Um the uh new company is a Rahi,that's A-R-A-H-I.
So that is Mari for to lead orto guide.
Um, so Rahi.com.
And and obviously there's alsoOrgview, which I'm still very
involved with, um, orgviewuh.com as well.
So, you know, going back to yourearly question, like keeping
(27:25):
busy, Bill.
Um you know, if you want to ifyou want to get in touch, if you
found this interesting, then umplease let me know.
SPEAKER_02 (27:33):
Well, that just leaves me to say for today, uh,
Mr.
Morrison, don't leave it so longnext time, okay?
Let's get back on sooner.
Um it's been fantastic.
It's great to hear that you'reyou're you're keeping so busy
and everything's going so welland you're doing all these new
things as well.
So um good to catch up with you.
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00 (27:55):
Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show.
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SPEAKER_02 (00:26):
Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Podcast.
Hello, listeners.
This is your host today, BillBannham.
And in this episode, I'mdelighted to welcome back to the
show after far too long.
Rupert Morrison, economist,former manager and consultant,
serial entrepreneur, and founderof Org View and Ahari.
(00:46):
Rupert has spent his careerhelping organizations see
themselves more clearly from alldesign and workforce planning to
sharper board reporting andvalue creation.
We talk about the idea behindhis new venture, the thinking
that shaped his latest book,Strategic Value Creation, and
(01:07):
why so many organizations stillconfuse plans with strategy.
Rupert also breaks down whatmakes a strong board pack, why
weak ones derail decisionmaking, and how his work with
private equity firms onportfolio reporting connects
back to the fundamentals oforganizational clarity and
(01:28):
capability.
If you care about betterdecisions, better data, and
better strategy, thisconversation with Rupert will
give you plenty to chew on.
I hope you enjoy my conversationwith Rupert Morrison.
Rupert, it's my pleasure afterafter a while to welcome you
back to the channel.
SPEAKER_01 (01:48):
It's been way too long, quite a few years.
How are you?
You know, Bill, I'm alwaysliving the dream, just different
dreams.
Um I'm good, thank you.
I'm really good.
SPEAKER_02 (01:58):
I mentioned to you before we hit record today that
I was watching uh your podcaston YouTube earlier, and I think
you gave the same answer.
Always living the dream.
I know.
It's a good answer.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
But I am living the dream.
I'm I I love what I do.
So if you love what you do, thenhow many people can say that?
SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
All right.
Well, without giving the gameaway, because we're going to get
into what you're up to thesedays in just a minute.
Let's let's just pose thatquestion.
What why do you love doing whatyou do?
What problems is it solving?
What why does it why does itmotivate you to get out of bed
in the morning?
SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
I just well, A, I'll be honest, I like working.
So like when I was a child and Ihad to go and work in the wool
shed or something, I was just Iwas happy.
If I had to go and do, you know,work with the sheep and do
docking or whatever.
I loved it.
So I just love working.
So maybe I'd be happy doinganything.
(02:53):
Um, and then I've somehowmanaged to manufacture a
scenario where I can work onsolving problems that I think
are really interesting to solve.
Um, so that started with orgdesign and work was planning in
my first business that I that Istarted, analytics.
I love data, I'm an economist byeducation.
(03:14):
So I've kind of geared my careeraround things that I'm
interested in and problems thatI like to solve.
And that's true in with my newventure, Arahi, as well.
You know, I'm I'm solving ameaty problem that I'm really
interested in doing.
And I think the other thing thatmakes work interesting is
variation.
So it's, you know, my clientsare very, which is fascinating.
(03:37):
Um, but also I spend a lot oftime working with my developers,
which is I love, I lovedeveloping software.
Um, but I'm still doing someconsulting work with clients,
and I love being out there withclients and helping them.
So it's that variation andmixture.
I I'm not very good at followingprocess, you know, so if I'd
have to do the same thing everyday, I'd that would be
(03:59):
torturous.
Um, don't idle well.
So if you'd say to me, righthere you go, you have all the
money in the world, but youcan't work again, I would, I
would turn that away.
I wouldn't, I would not takethat that offer.
SPEAKER_02 (04:14):
So today uh we are we're uh we're talking about
strategy and um board reporting.
Um you mentioned just a secondago, Ahari, your new business.
Uh what's the what's the bigidea behind the new business and
and why did you start it?
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
A couple of things.
First, you know, I mean, some ofyour listeners may know me.
The last time you interviewedme, we were talking about org
design.
And you could ask the question,how do you go from org design to
to strategy and board reporting?
So um, whenever you do orgdesign, the first question you
ask is, what's the strategy?
And you would expect that mostorganizations, most companies
(04:52):
would have a very good answer tothat question.
Um, the the truth is they don't.
The truth is org design isactually very hard to do because
most of the time uhorganizations don't have a
clear, well-articulated,well-differentiated strategy.
And I just thought that is athat's it just amazed me every
(05:15):
time it amazed me.
And you know, you mentioned mypodcast, I I ask, you know, I
mean, I've obviously done thework with lots of different
clients.
I'm got some gray hairs now, I'mgetting older.
Uh but I speak to other peoplewho do org design a lot, and
they have the same experience.
So that was the first thing, andthen it got me thinking from
(05:37):
first principles, actually, whatis strategy?
Like, you know, I've been amanagement consultant, I've been
a CEO, I've done, I've done thisstuff.
And I I I I asked myself thequestion, can I really
articulate what it is and how todo it?
And have I always always beengood at creating, you know, I
call it designing a strategy.
(05:57):
Um and I probably wasn't great.
So I went back and researched,you know, read over 50 books,
did a lot of soul searching, alot of reading, and you know,
wrote another book, um,strategic value creation, in
part, so I could answer thatquestion.
And we don't have enough time togo through it, but you know,
basically I distilled it down toeight questions.
(06:20):
But the simplest way to answerthe question is, you know, where
to play and how to win, um,which um you know wasn't it
wasn't my phraseology, but thatthat's a nice way of thinking
about it.
But it's more than that becauseyou need to understand your
ambition, you need to understandyour economic engine, how you
(06:43):
make money that has to tie to topurpose and passion.
So, you know, you can have allthe right ideas, but if you're
not extremely motivated, umobsessively motivated, you
you're probably not gonnasucceed, you know, in being the
best of the world at doing thething you want to do.
So it's distilling all thatdown.
And where people get confused isbetween that and a plan.
(07:06):
So often say, so what is yourstrategy?
And they will just have a listof aspirations.
Oh, we want to be number one inthis industry, or we want to
grow by 25% or whatever, andlike, okay, that's a goal.
That's something you want,that's an outcome you want to
achieve.
That's a dream, living thedream.
That's a dream.
But how are you gonna get that?
How you configure all yourcapabilities so that you can get
(07:30):
there, um, that's a differentthing.
And and and that's where peopleget confused, and you know,
overly simplistic in theirthinking/slash not thinking.
Um that's one element of it.
The other element is is theboard and board reporting, and
I, you know, being a CEO of a Pback business, you know, I had
(07:51):
to build board packs.
And I would ask numerousinvestors and other private
equity firms, can you give me anexample of a good board pack?
And they all said no, they'rewe're too embarrassed to share.
Um, you know, and and you know,looking around, it's most boards
don't have a great pack andsomething that links to the
(08:13):
strategy.
I call it the red line from thestrategy to the plan to what the
board discusses and how you workthrough on a on a cadence.
So you everyone is aligned andworking to execute that strategy
so you can maximize the chanceof return.
So it's it's that connection.
Um, it was those two sort ofideas, really, and connecting
(08:34):
those that led me to a Rahi andanother SaaS platform, another
you know, piece of software tohelp people do this.
SPEAKER_02 (08:42):
I guess the most obvious question for what you
just mentioned there is how howdoes an organization analyze
their capabilities and and theirhuman assets and and all the all
the possible ways that theycould get to what what they what
they envisage the company shouldstand for.
Um, you know, what are some ofthose processes to analyze?
SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
So at the strategy level, it's it's probably more
high level than what you'rethinking about.
So um Michael Porter talkedabout the activity system.
Uh I I kind of distilled hisactivity system so into I think
different constituent parts.
So what one of the value, whatvalue factors, what value do you
provide to your customer that isdifferentiating and makes you
(09:27):
unique?
And it's the combination ofthose value factors.
Um and then what corecapabilities do you need so you
can execute those?
And that this all fits on onepage, Bill.
So these are you know, in termsof number of value factors, uh
it might be three or four thingsthat make you unique.
It's it's not a long laundrylist.
(09:50):
Um what are therefore the thekey processes, the key KPIs, the
key policies that need to be inplace?
And that creates like a graphdiagram or a web and you know,
like a system on one page.
And that's a for strategy,that's the level, that's all you
need to go to.
Um Porter wrote about thisstuff, you know, 30 odd years
(10:13):
ago.
Like, so it's it's not complex,it's just just doing that, and
that's that's one of the eightquestions.
Um it's really at that level,and then you know, you can
always break these things downto you know, other strategies
like a functional strategy or abusiness unit strategy, so these
(10:36):
things can cascade, but theyshould always align to that
overarching corporate strategy,you know, at the top of the
tree.
SPEAKER_02 (10:45):
Okay, so higher level strategy, and then you're
getting deep into it withdifferent plans.
Can you define for us thedifference between a plan and a
strategy?
SPEAKER_01 (10:54):
Sure.
So a plan is how you're going todo this, how you configure the
capabilities, the value youprovide provide to the customer
versus the competition.
So it's in the context of amarket, who you're selling to,
so what segments you're sellingto, and why they they would buy,
(11:14):
say what's your value propertyinto that, how you make money.
So you all those elements haveto be designed so they're all
consistent together.
It's it's a whole set ofquestions.
Um, what is the crux?
What's the key thing you need toovercome?
Uh, versus a plan is what arethe steps you need to do to
(11:34):
execute on things, to changethings, so you can do those
things.
So think of the plan is we'rehere today, we need to do A, B,
C, and we'll get to this point.
Um, and you can't do everythingat once.
So you it's prioritization, it'sscheduling, uh, and and and so
(11:54):
that's what a plan is.
We're gonna do these things toget here.
Now, like all these things, allthings have to be true.
So you you need to, if you don'thave a good strategy, a
differentiated strategy that'sreally compelling, you're going
to fail.
Um, there are other tests aswell.
Um, you know, how are you goingto get power in the market?
(12:18):
So, you know, are there networkeffects?
Um, there's the Hamilton Haloseven um powers, which is
another framework.
Apologies, this framework's fromheaded um the wazoo, but you
know, what what are the thingsthat you have in the marketplace
that give you power?
So you can, if you wantdifferentiated margins and
(12:41):
returns, which often goodstrategy leads to differentiated
returns because you you havesomething that is that is unique
and that what people want, andthat is defend defendable.
A good brand is defensible.
So um process power, corneredresource, those are all things
that give you a network effect.
(13:01):
These are all powers that youhave that mean you can charge
more money relative to what thecompetition can do.
So that the competitive dynamicsis really, really important.
And then what we do is we I callit um a pope plan on a page.
I'm a big believer, Bill, ongetting stuff onto one page so
you can have a properconversation.
(13:22):
And with the Pope, you say,well, where are we today?
So, what are the KPIs today thatmatter the most?
And on one page, one column, bythe key swim lanes in the
organization.
So normally custom would be atthe top, finance and operations
at the bottom.
Um, people will always be oneswim lane typically.
(13:43):
Where are we today?
Where do we want to get to sayin five years' time?
And how do those metrics evolveover five years according to
just a couple of steppingstones?
And then what are the keyinitiatives?
So, what are the things we needto do that are going to make a
dramatic change so we canactually get there in time?
Um, and so getting that on oneplan, so a plan on a page we're
(14:07):
finding is working extremelywell with management teams.
And a lot of this is arounddriving alignment and choice.
You most people try and do toomuch too quickly, um, and that
just leads to failure.
So, what are the the thingstoday, what are the bets today?
If we do these things, it'sgonna have the biggest impact,
(14:27):
or it's gonna lay a foundationfor the next phase.
Um, so that's a big part of theplanning process as well.
As every most organizations haveyou know limited resources.
Um, so how you optimize the theuse of that is is is really
important.
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
Okay, and you obviously have been involved
with fast-scale companies aswell.
I wonder what the differencebetween a board pack for a uh a
smaller, more agile, fastgrowing company that maybe wants
to have an exit strategy andused you know five years uh
earlier on as part of youranswer uh in five years compared
to what that would look likecompared to an established
(15:10):
perhaps larger company beenaround for a while, um, with
with with uh plans to grow uhand and to and and build on
their existing achievements.
What would be the keydifferences between those
business packs?
SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
The dimensions of analysis is is really the the
difference.
So I call them KODs, keyorganizational dimensions.
So as an organization grows, youadd geographies, you add
business units, you know, youadd channels.
So you and and and as you grow,you have levels of
(15:45):
accountability for thosedifferent things.
You have more functions and morefunctions at scale.
So in a way, if you think of it,uh each unit is is not too
dissimilar.
You have a leader of that unit,um, that smallest thing with the
CEO at the top.
And and the a key to a goodboard pack is I I call it the
(16:10):
you know, the view from thebridge.
So a one-page summary ofeverything that's going to
follow, the key things that aregoing to follow.
And I I like to have what arethe highlights, because people
are very bad at celebratingsuccess.
So, what are the highlights?
What are the lowlights?
Um, given that, and given thewhat are the key issues we need
(16:33):
to discuss, what and what arethe key recommendations and why?
And getting that on one page.
And so that means you know, whatare the three key highlights and
the three key lowlights?
So, again, this is communicationtheory.
You can have reams of lowlightsand highlights, but it's it's
(16:53):
helping the reader and in themeeting for people to focus
their time.
And in a way, Bill, if you're asmall organization with 20
employees, or you're a massiveorganization with 200,000
employees, it's human beingsthat are digesting information,
(17:14):
trying to make decisions to pushsomething forward.
It's it's prioritization, it'sprioritizing what are the issues
we need to discuss, whatdecisions do we need to make,
and and and with that, whatrecommendations, if I'm
attending a board meeting, whatrecommendations are you making
management team and why?
So, and and then having thatclearly laid out and summarized
(17:35):
at the beginning.
So, you know, huge, you know,you'll you'll see a theme here,
which is the power of one page.
Because when you're in ameeting, you you want it's the
it's the conversation and it'sgetting to and it's getting to
action.
What are we going to do?
Um, if the meeting is structuredas people sitting, stepping
(18:00):
through reams and reams andreams of pages being presented
to, it's you, you know, youcognitively you're just gonna
tire.
Um but Barbara Minto, who's oneof the you know, the leaders of
uh communication in themanagement consulting world,
have the pyramid principle,which is have the biggest
biggest things at the top and itcascades from there.
(18:22):
What is the big issue that wehave to discuss?
Cascade from there.
So it's leveraging that kind ofthinking, really.
Um, and and I don't care whatscale you are, what industry you
are, that that is just goodpractice, and everyone's trying
to get better, everyone's tryingto grow.
So if you're a a startup, whichyou know I've been, or you're a
scale-up, which I've also youknow, complexity might grow, but
(18:46):
in that meeting, actually, it'sdistilling down to those things,
and it that just takes thoughtup front.
SPEAKER_02 (18:55):
Okay, as part of your answer just a moment ago,
you were uh talking about itkind of sounded like uh you are
uh pro a top-down approach interms of um steering the ship,
leading the company.
Where do you stand on bottom-upcommunication and how that
shapes a company culture aswell?
Is that fine for companyculture?
But actually, strategy should betop-down.
SPEAKER_01 (19:16):
I don't quite see them so mutually exclusive.
Great insight comes fromeverywhere.
Um, it's not and and strategy isnot just a one-and-done, one-off
thing either.
So if you're not listening tothe market, if you're not
listening to customers, if youdon't see the process, you
you're going to fail.
I I guess I see I said buymodal, buy, you know, without
(19:41):
the bottom up, if you're just inan ivory tower, you're gonna be
in deep trouble.
You don't have all those allthat information flowing, and
and vice versa.
Um I I think often goodstrategy, it comes from a kernel
of insight about something,about a market.
Um, now where does that comefrom?
You know, that might come fromthe founder or the CEO, but but
(20:05):
not always, and often not.
And and as you, you know, youasked about scale, and as you
become larger, it it bec youknow that there's a trap of
become becoming more and moredivorced from the market and you
know, from the end customer, um,from the processes, from the you
know, the things that make yougreat.
(20:28):
And uh and and then you'llyou'll if you lose contact with
that, you will fail.
I think this is another one ofthe dilemmas, Earl, is that
there's there's a whole set ofparadoxes in good strategy,
which I've actually I won't boreyou with all, but there's a
whole bunch of things that haveto be simultaneously true that
seem like they'recontradictions.
(20:49):
So um you have to have your headin the cloud and your feet on
the ground.
You know, both things have to betrue, and and I think it's true.
You you you need a top-downvision for the market and a
thesis about why how you'regoing to win and why and where
and all these sorts of things,but simultaneously you need to
(21:12):
be constantly learning anditerating.
Um, so I the world is dynamic.
I don't care how large or smallan organization is, you live in
a dynamic world.
You know, that the averagelifespan of a of an organization
and the standard poor S ⁇ P 500is halved in the last 20 odd
(21:32):
years, 20, 30 years.
Um, you know, so I don't carewho you are, uh, you know, Jeff
Bezos was famously, famouslysaid, I I I know Amazon will
cease to exist at some point, Ijust don't know when I'm trying
to push that date date out.
You know, he I don't care whatorganization you're in, you're
probably the organization'sprobably gonna fail at some
(21:54):
point um and and and struggle.
And and so if you if you thinkthat any of this is a one and
done and you you can rest inyour laurels and and that's it,
um you know statistics will saythat you that's not gonna
happen.
You know, it's just very rare.
So I I I think these it's it'snot a it's not a bottom-up,
(22:16):
top-down, it's both.
It has to be both.
You have to have your head inthe clouds, you have to be
dreaming, and you've got to washyour, you know, be on your cash.
And and what one of the thingsthat like successful founders do
over and over again is they'revery prudent with money, they're
very careful what they spend.
You know, cash management iskey.
(22:37):
Um, you know, so both thingshave to be true, and that's just
with a lot of, you know, ifpeople are looking for one
panacea, like there's one thing,you do that one thing, then
happy days, then guess what?
The the world's just not thatsimple.
Um all the cliches are true, anda lot of cliches are in total
contradiction to each other.
SPEAKER_02 (22:58):
Okay, I think you were gonna say wash wash your
hands as well, which actually isvery important for a farmer, I
would imagine.
There you go.
Um, just two more questionsbefore we do wrap up for today.
Um, just very briefly, verybriefly, you you're doing
portfolio reporting now forprivate equity firms too.
Uh, how did that come about andhow does it relate to value
creation and and boardreporting?
SPEAKER_01 (23:20):
Yeah.
So it was it was a little bit byaccident.
I I have to be honest.
I it was not the plan.
And I was just meeting uh um themanaging partner and some
partners of a private equityfirm talking about value
creation and board reporting,and they said this is really
interesting, but we have aproblem with portfolio
(23:41):
reporting.
And portfolio reporting forlisteners that don't understand
is a PE firm wants to understandthe performance of each of their
investments, and because privateequity, it's active capital
inside that.
So they have board seats, theyoften have majority
shareholding.
So when when a private equityfirm makes an investment, they
(24:03):
will have an investment thesis,they'll have a thesis for today
the valuation is X, let's callit 100, and we want to get that
to 300 or 400.
How are we going to do that?
And then the investmentcommittee will sign off that
investment thesis to make thatinvestment, and so they will
(24:26):
have that signed off, which theyhave to report up to their um
LPs, the people that give themmoney to invest in these
companies.
And so they need to track howthey're doing against that plan
that they set at thatinvestment.
And then what they'll do withmanagement when once they've um
acquired the business oracquired a major stake in the
(24:47):
business, they'll do a thingwhat's called a hundred-day plan
or create a value creation plan.
And a lot of that is is goingback to basics.
So, you know, what is thestrategy, what's the plan, how
are we going to you know get a4x return or 25% IRR in this
period?
And portfolio reporting istracking, you know, all the
(25:09):
management accounts, PL, cashflow balance sheet, all of those
standard things, but also theKPIs.
And then what will happen in aPE firm is they will review that
and they say, where are thereissues?
And what's interesting when youlook across the portfolio, are
there things?
Are there things in each of theportfolio?
And they will try and learn thatand then help each of the
(25:29):
portfolio companies and improve.
And that's part of the valueadd.
It's why, you know, the LPs, thepeople that invest in private
equity, um, it's part of whatthey're paying for.
Uh, so and it's all about valuecreation.
It's all about we're here andhow do we create value with
this?
And different PE firms havedifferent theses and they invest
(25:52):
in different markets anddifferent geographies at
different stages, but that thatpattern is the same across, and
the reporting and portfolioreporting is very similar to the
board reporting, it just hasless detail and it's slightly
more financially oriented.
So the board pack will have,let's say, more sales data and
(26:13):
customer data and operationalinformation.
Um, this is has less of that,but then it's across all the
portfolio.
So it was a natural extensionfor the platform we could do it,
and it was interesting.
So that's that's how we gotinvolved.
SPEAKER_02 (26:29):
Okay, very, very good.
And just finally for today,Rupert, how can our listeners
connect with you?
How can they learn more about ahurry?
And how can they get a copy ofyour latest book or any of your
books for that matter?
SPEAKER_01 (26:42):
So you can get a copy of the books on Amazon or
through Kogan Page, mypublisher.
Uh the latest one is called uhStrategic Value Creation.
Um, there's also data-drivenorganization design, which is my
first book, second edition, um,and organizational planning and
analysis uh is is my second one.
So um you can find me onLinkedIn, it's probably the
(27:02):
easiest way.
Um the uh new company is a Rahi,that's A-R-A-H-I.
So that is Mari for to lead orto guide.
Um, so Rahi.com.
And and obviously there's alsoOrgview, which I'm still very
involved with, um, orgviewuh.com as well.
So, you know, going back to yourearly question, like keeping
(27:25):
busy, Bill.
Um you know, if you want to ifyou want to get in touch, if you
found this interesting, then umplease let me know.
SPEAKER_02 (27:33):
Well, that just leaves me to say for today, uh,
Mr.
Morrison, don't leave it so longnext time, okay?
Let's get back on sooner.
Um it's been fantastic.
It's great to hear that you'reyou're you're keeping so busy
and everything's going so welland you're doing all these new
things as well.
So um good to catch up with you.
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00 (27:55):
Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show.
If you enjoyed this episode, whynot subscribe and listen to some
of the hundreds of episodespublished by HR Gazette?
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