From the course: How to Think Strategically
Value creation patterns
(bright upbeat music) - One of the things that I hope you've drawn from this course is the fact that strategy is really more art than science. And like any art form, you can draw inspiration from a wide range of places. In fact, my guess is that there are industries that you've never thought of that have the same dynamics as yours. And if you can draw parallels between the mountain that you're climbing and other industries other companies that have similar challenges, you might be able to identify tactics and strategies to help you win. Let me show you a few examples. I bet you've never thought about the connection point between movie companies and pharmaceuticals, but it's there. If you want to be an amazing movie company, it's about finding blockbusters. And the process of finding a movie that becomes culturally relevant. Starts with looking at a wide array of potential options. And then over time, whittling down those options at different stages in the production process to figure out which of the ideas you're going to bet on as a movie that you're going to put your capital behind. It is an enormous process of getting really smart about how to get smarter and smarter of which ideas are going to win. And then once you've found that idea, the one that you believe has the potential to be a blockbuster, to quickly get it through production and make it as amazing as possible. And then once you have that movie, how do you bring it through streaming partnerships, through merchandising, to all of your loyal customers and followers around the world? How do you scale it as quickly as possible while your movie is culturally relevant? As it turns out, pharmaceutical companies have the same challenges. If they want to bring a unique therapeutic to market, they start with a wide range of potential ways to solve the problem. And as they go through drug discovery at each stage, they ask themselves which of these ideas are we going to bet on? How do we make sure that we're putting the most of our resources behind the things that we think have the potential to become blockbusters? Once they have their idea, they need to get it into production and through regulatory approval as quickly as possible. And then when they have the edge, when they have something that they're going to bring to the world that has never existed, how do they get it in the hands of doctors and hospitals and other healthcare providers to help people as quickly as possible before other therapeutics come on the market? You see a very similar pattern of discovery, execution, and then distribution. And so as you're trying to think about the strategies that can help you win in your market, it's really helpful to look at other industries and ask yourself, can I draw inspiration from the way that these companies win to help me be as effective as possible on the mountain that I'm climbing?