Jan shares her career story and path to leadership along with her perspectives on this year’s Management Briefing Seminars.

When we think of strategic planning, our mind likely conjures images of dull conference rooms and PowerPoint presentations loaded with meaningless corporate phrases. And then there’s all the politics and the gamesmanship – the atmosphere of competition in the room speaks volumes. 

At the end of the day, you may come away with strategic goals to “improve revenue and profitability” or “diversify your customer portfolio.” But what does that even mean?

This is supposed to be a strategy meeting, where you’re outside of the day-to-day, you’re not in the weeds, you’re thinking onward and upward. And you’re thinking about where to take this company next. That’s what strategy meetings are for.

The truth is, we’re still trying to fit this mold of a bygone corporate age that just doesn’t work. When the people in the room are too afraid to be judged for proposing a potentially great idea, the creativity and innovation we hope will come from strategic planning is subdued.

The automotive industry is never going to meet lofty goals of moving toward more electric and autonomous vehicles if we keep running strategy meetings like this.