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The Iowa Idea: Ed Morrison
“There’s no best practice, only promising practices.”
In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Ed Morrison. Ed is director of the Agile Strategy Lab at the University of North Alabama. Ed started his career in Washington, DC, where he was legislative assistant to an Ohio congressman, staff attorney in the Office of Policy Planning for the Federal Trade Commission.
After leaving Washington, he joined a corporate strategy consulting firm, where he conducted strategy studies for large companies like Ford, Volvo, and General Electric. After his work as a corporate strategy consultant, Ed consulted with communities and regions on how to tackle the complex challenges of building a prosperous economy in an era of globalization. Frustrated with existing approaches to these issues, more than 25 years ago he began working on a new methodology for developing strategy in open, loosely connected networks, now called Strategic Doing.
Ed and I dig into the importance of guiding complex collaborations and how those collaborations emerge from conversations. Civil, respectful conversations, rooted in appreciative inqury and what my friend Adam Hansen (guest on episode 30). calls “forness” are ways for us to shape these conversations.
Like all complex adaptive systems there are no best practices, only promising practices, which can be guided by some simple rules and principles. I appreciate Ed sharing the history and evolution of Strategic Doing, as a different and necessary approach to strategy. We talk about the insights Ed has gained in over 20 years of developing the practice. At its core, is the importance of creating a safe place for civil conversations to impact change. Strategic Doing is a form of agile strategy. Some of Ed’s early inspiration came from looking at the open-source software development ecosystems. Ed describes the importance of teams and shares some of the powerful lessons learned working to reduce teenage violence in Flint, MI.
We discuss some of the global changes, starting in the 1970s, that transformed our economic and civic ecosystems into a much more complex and adaptive systems. Changes where old, local strategic practices are no longer suited for the challenges of global changes and complexity. Those changes include trade regulations and the growth of the internet. It’s been said that strategic plans don’t survive first contact with the enemy; or as the philosopher Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face. Strategic Doing provides an agile, responsive way for us to collaborate at scale and address the truly complex and wicked problems our communities face.
As a fan and practitioner of Strategic Doing, it was a pleasure having Ed join me on the podcast. I hope you enjoy the episode.
About Ed
Ed Morrison is director of the Agile Strategy Lab at the University of North Alabama. Ed started his career in Washington, DC, where he was legislative assistant to an Ohio congressman, staff attorney in the Office of Policy Planning for the Federal Trade Commission, and a staff member for the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. In that role, he managed floor legislation involving tax, trade, and competitiveness.
After leaving Washington, he joined a corporate strategy consulting firm, where he conducted strategy studies for large companies like Ford, Volvo, and General Electric. After his work as a corporate strategy consultant, Ed consulted with communities and regions on how to tackle the complex challenges of building a prosperous economy in an era of globalization. Frustrated with existing approaches to these issues, more than 25 years ago he began working on a new methodology for developing strategy in open, loosely connected networks, now called Strategic Doing. This work aligns with what scholars now call “open strategy.”
Ed began his academic career in 2003 as director of the Center for Regional Economic Issues at Case Western Reserve University. In 2005, he moved to Purdue University, where he was a member of the professional staff at the Purdue Center for Regional Development. In 2016, he founded the Agile Strategy Lab at Purdue. In 2020, he founded the Agile Strategy Lab at the University of North Alabama.
Links
Strategic Doing Institute https://strategicdoing.net
Agile Strategy Lab https://agilestrategylab.org
Credits
Episode produced by Spark Consulting Group (www.inspiredbyspark.com) in Iowa City, with support from Executive Podcast Solutions (https://www.executivepodcastsolutions.com/).
The Iowa Idea Podcast theme music written and performed by Paisley Bible (https://paisleybible.bandcamp.com/).