Edgewalkers

Serving Those Who Walk Between the Worlds

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‘What’s Alternative About Alternative Strategy?’​ asks Edgewalker, Susan Furness

The old way still might work.

And if a few tweaks are made, here and there, that could make a positive difference on the outcome.

But as there is no licence on good ideas the competition could be tweaking up the same tree, right?

What we need is a good idea that is very hard for others to apply first, and here’s where to get it.

Look in different places for new answers, or even in new places for different answers. This is the underbelly of Alternative Strategy.

Here’s Six Strategic Nuances nourished by the philosophy of Edgewalkers.org. and taken from Strategic Heartistry, the new world business modelling that never fails to unearth the difference that makes the difference.

  1. USE DIFFERENT WORDS The team energy will shift when alternative vocabulary is used. Instead of asking ‘what is the objective?’, try ‘what is our Intention…?’. Similarly, instead of ‘what outcome are we looking for?’, ask ‘what Impact are we going to make…?’.
  2. NAME THE SAME DESTINATION DIFFERENTLY Traditional strategy often takes a linear path to get from Here to There, but there isn’t a there, because when you get there, you are here. Alternative Strategy keeps a sharp eye on the vision or New Reality by moving from Here to Here.
  3. TAKE DIFFERENT LEAPS INSTEAD OF WELL-TRODDEN STEPS Alternative Strategy names the Reality (nee the Situation Overview), senses the New Reality (the Vision) and makes Quantum Leaps, or small significant steps to extraordinary impact.
  4. LEAD DIFFERENTLY, HEART BEFORE HEAD The Fearless Leader manifests Alternative Strategy by talking in before talking out to him/herself and the team. Listen to the heart first, and then ask the head, because the heart knows.
  5. LOVE DIFFERENTLY BY BEING KIND The Fearless Leader knows that acts of love & kindness evoke acts of love & kindness in others, which provokes a spirit of collaboration, co-creation, inspiration, and courage. Out of courage comes a brave, alternative heart.
  6. MEASURE DIFFERENTLY Alternative Strategy appreciates that Return on Investment is born from ROE – Return on Energy or Engagement. ROE brings a sense of belonging, or the desire to ‘be long in’. ROE + ROI = The Infinite Game.

Thanks for reading. I am self-proclaimed Alternative Strategist because the strategist in me just won’t buzz off and let me be something different, so I am Being Different by fusing Strategy with Spirituality at the intersection of Digital Technology.

Feeling Into Tomorrow’s Reality


By Susan K. Furness, Edgewalker Senior Associate

If there is one thing I have long-since known, it is that you cannot know the future. So, when Dr. Judi Neal named “Sensing the Future” as one of the five Edgewalker Skills I was immediately drawn to the conversation. 

The notion of Sensing the Future speaks to me in a number of ways.

  • Sensing the Future speaks to both the creative and logical me, reminding you don’t know what you don’t know and you definitely don’t know the Future until it is has moved through being Present, to become the Past.
  • Sensing the Future stirs my sixth sense of Intuition into play to power-up other ‘sense intelligences’ (hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting. When I combo the embodied knowing of intuition with what I (perceive) I know, I notice how graceful ‘movement’ becomes.
  • Sensing the Future offers me comfort as I give myself permission to stay present, to vision what could be next, but not labour on, or yearn for, what is next now.

I am nudged to consider the difference and/or relationship between Knowing and Sensing. The author Mark Nepo suggests its common to confuse plans with planning, dreams with dreaming and love with loving. Mark also shares that every book he has written has been discovered on the way to unplanned destinations.

This sparks a smile, as my legacy career has me ‘labelled’ Marketing Strategist. Indeed, my 30-year old company, Strategic Solutions bears the responsibility of its name in a (business) world I now know to be more fun, much more real and much less worrying in un-strategic surrender, especially as we navigate to AC (after corona).

I am not mooting the absence of the age-old stalwarts of the Strategic Plan – Mission, Vision, Objectives. Rather, I am appreciating the exchange of vocabulary to ignite a ‘different’ felt shift, or movement, in myself, the team, the client, the customer, the marketplace, the reader, the community …..and some. 

Try these vocabulary exchanges on for size and shift :

  • Mission becomes Purpose which becomes Reason which becomes…
  • Vision becomes Reality which becomes New Reality…
  • Objective becomes Intention which becomes Sense…

The best part is you get to choose the Vocabulary Energetic that works for you and for your Sense of the Future, or perhaps your Sense of a New Reality.

Here’s some to practise as we make ‘quantum leaps’, noticeable or not :

  • Timeline becomes Pulse which becomes Rhythm 
  • Strategy becomes Method which becomes Recipe
  • Tactics become Tasks which become Rituals

According to Dr Neal, the Edgewalker definition of Sensing the Future is ‘the ability to understand and embrace the future’. 

Let’s take the last bit first. 

Embracing the future is an ability we all have, as each breath we take carries us forward. However, it may not be an ability we recognise or enjoy.

I wonder, is this because the future is always just ahead of the point of arrival?

As I ponder, I am aware that understanding the future, especially one we don’t know, is where turmoil can kick right in. Enter the Edgewalker archetypes of change – Hearthtender and Guardian.

The Heathtender – or Heart-Tender – looks kindly at me and says, para-phrased from Anthony De Mello : ‘Find truth in observation, not opinion….’ I take this as embodied observation by listening to the intuitive heart first, before asking my head.

The Guardian or Doomsayer steps forth looks me squarely in my knowing eyes and states : ’It will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, it’s not the end….’.

I chuckle. That appeals to my sense of play, as well as my feel for the future, as tomorrow shows up, right here and now. Please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.