Situational Psychology - 5) At a Crossroad

It’s Strategy Saturday! And a big announcement.

The topic is the psychology of crossroads situations. When we are at the crossroads, we are forced by conditions to make choices not only about which way to go but also about the alliances we must make to improve our strategic positions. Finding ourselves at a crossroad is a natural evolution from both the contentious and open situations, but it can also arise from other competitive comditions. In it, we discover that, for many different reasons, we cannot go it alone.

At the crossroads, we must do something that is psychologically difficult for most people: admit that we have limitations and that others have abilities that we do not have. Not too long ago, I wrote about the importance of honesty in good strategy. Above all we must be honest with ourselves, admitting that we are limited, very limited and that we need other people, not only because they can position and reward us, but because people working together are strategically stronger than they are individually. Strategic strength is defined as unity plus focus.

In crossroad situations, we agree with others about where the path forward lies and about its potential value, but that path demands a certain combination of resources that we each lack on our own. We can only get those resources by joining together, one way or another. Of course, every advance requires the support of others, but this is not an exchange where we know that what we are trading has known value. At the crossroads, the value lies in the future. We combine, not by exchanging resources, but by working together in order to pursue the value of the path together.

Crossroads Situations

Crossroads arise in every strategic arena, our relationships, our careers, in our businesses, and so on. They aways requires a difficult decision and a future commitment. The decision to get married is an architype of the crossroads and one of the most common. But in these articles on situational psychology, I like to give business examples because they are the most generic. There are many well-known joint ventures in business history. In 1981, Microsoft and IBM united to provide the first generic PC operating system. In 2000, Confinity merged with X.com to create Paypal. In 2006, Lockheed and Boeing created the United Launch Alliance, the only serious competitor today with SpaceX, the subject of last week’s article on Open Situations. Most recently, the PGA and LIV Golf merged to resolve a contentious situation.

As it happens, I find myself in a crossroad situation as I write this. By some strange coincidence, my response follows all the relevant points in my earlier article about decision making at a crossroad. Earliar, I wrote about the future of the Science of Strategy Institute (SOSI) and our strategic training products. My strategy training organization finds itself at a crossroad. Several people contacted me to express interest, but I decided to go forward in a joint venture with MVP Strategy and Policy (MVP). We are finalizing our agreement in a few days, and it perfectly illustrates the “why” and “how” of making a good choice at a crossroads.

A Good Crossroad’s Decision

First, though I assumed it in my earlier article on advancing at the crossroads, I missed an important element. We must only join with those whom we know and can trust. Most of those who contacted me regarding SOSI were people that have been following my strategic methods for years and who I knew slightly. I was fortunate that one of them, Shawn, was one of them was my best student, who has worked with me for over sixteen years, Shawn Frost (@StrategyShawn). He is the founder and owner of MVP. He was certified as one of our earliest SOSI trainers. He was also my co-author, or I was his, for our book The Art of War and the Art of Politics, written ten years ago, applying Sun Tzu’s methods to political campaigns.

Shawn has resources that I don’t have. One of them is the energy and hunger of a younger man looking to establish himself in a larger competitive arena. He is especially practiced in branding and social media, having skills that I lack. These are all needed for SOSI to move forward.  MVP is a nationally recognized organization supplying campaign and policy strategic services. Shawn’s crossroads is his desire to expand MVP’s into the corporate business market, which today must deal with our world of political and social divisions in order to survive.

The Rules

The first rule at a crossroad is to find a clear, shared goal. Since Practical Strategy is about improving our position in the minds of others, we look for ways we can benefit from each other’s assets. The main asset of SOSI is our website, that offers on-line training and a wealth of articles, books, audios, videos, slide shows, training programs, etc. that help you master practical strategy. For years, the website was, along with my books, the way I introduce people to the live training and consulting I and SOSI’s other licensed trainers offered for over fifteen years. However, I retired from live training and licensing other trainers over five years ago. Shawn is still doing that type of work. He can benefit directing the SOSI Website and its resources and promoting them in a way that enriches us both.

The next rule of the crossroad is that we must decide quickly. Several people contacted me about the SOSI opportunity, but they were all too slow. Shawn shares my attitude about moving forward rapidly rather than kicking ideas around without making progress. All alliances made at a crossroad carry some risk, but the biggest risk, as it is in many strategic situations, is in reacting too slowly.

Making joint ventures work beyond the crossroads demands clarity about who is responsible for what and when. However, the biggest waste of time is trying to foresee every possible problem. Instead, we can completely describe the specifics about our expectations and what we are committing to right now. These relationships are built on trust. However, we cannot bury our secret worries and concerns about the relationship. Instead, we bring them out and reveal them so we can take a hard look, going forward with a clear understanding of where we stand.

Finally

After a crossroads, things are different. We must learn about our new obligations. We must make sure that are decisions at the crossroads pay off. MVP’s name stands for one of his favorite sayings from Sun Tzu: “Make Victory Pay.” Taking a step into a different direction at the crossroads takes courage but its payoff should be worth it.

I expect all my readers will hear more about SOSI in the future.