Talking About Organizations Podcast 133: Strategic Planning & Design -- Henry Mintzberg (Part 2)
Jan 27, 2026
They revisit Mintzberg's critique of rigid strategic planning and explore why old planning systems still fail. The conversation contrasts formal risk tables with true uncertainty and the challenges of rapid change like AI. They unpack how intended visions and emergent learning combine, and why glossy strategy often signals intent while practical plans manage day-to-day work.
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Strategy As Pattern, Not Just Plan
- Strategy is a pattern in a stream of decisions, not only formal plans crafted by scholars or consultants.
- Bureaucratic momentum can lock organizations into past strategies and make specificity harmful over time.
Funding Bid Revealed Tech Uncertainty
- Other Host described drafting a funding bid about AI and the creative industries and being pushed to plan for evolving AI over several years.
- The exercise revealed discomfort with open-ended uncertainty and a personal need for closure during planning.
Deliberate Meets Emergent
- Strategies can be intended, unrealized, deliberate, or emergent and realized strategies combine both deliberate and emergent elements.
- Studying emergent strategy reveals how unplanned decision patterns shape organizational direction over time.
