In an era of disruption, financial-services firms — and insurance companies in particular — need a shift in their approach to strategy. Developing and implementing a successful strategy in a nonlinear, fast-moving world can be easier than you think — if you focus in an active, iterative way on three core elements:
Portfolio: Which of your businesses deserve funding — and which don’t
Innovation: How well your organization is set up for experimentation and success in new
ventures
Stewardship: How you direct resources toward your most important capabilities, to steer
the business into the future
Your whole approach to strategy should focus on these three elements — and nothing else.
Forget traditional notions of strategic planning. Out with the slavish adherence to operating
models and organizational design. Ignore the relentless pressures to upgrade every platform
and system. Put all your strategic activity in service to those three elements: portfolio,
innovation, and stewardship.
Resist thinking of strategy in terms of governance and top-down control. Instead, think of
yourself and your top team as innovative stewards of the right mix of business lines, equipping
the organization with what it needs to deliver profitably. Simplify your thinking in this way, and
the rest — including how you deal with technological disruption — will fall into place.
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