A Better Approach for Multi-Year Strategies

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Artificial Intelligence   Strategy  

Business leaders have to balance long-term thinking with short-term performance. It’s important that they achieve the goals and objectives for the current period because that is ultimately how they and the organization will be judged, especially in the private sector. But they must also invest in strategies that aren’t going to deliver significant rewards for a number of business cycles.

Think of the strategies that are being developed now around artificial intelligence, for example. While some of the work carried out as part of those strategies may be completed in this fiscal year, and may start to deliver benefits in the same period, that work is merely foundational for where AI capabilities are going to be within a few years. That’s when the investment will really start to deliver significant returns.

If the work isn’t approved and started now, then those organizations will fall behind. If they don’t continue to invest and evolve their strategies over the next few cycles, they will fall behind. Essentially, success in three to five years requires a commitment of funds and resources every year between now and then.

And that’s where the challenges start. Because if you are making a decision today to carry out work next year or the year after, you are reducing the money and resources available to carry out other work during those …

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