The Banyan Approach
The problem with traditional strategy is not just its rigidity—it’s its assumption about time. The idea that we can move from ‘now’ to ‘next’ as though history were a straight road. The Banyan approach rejects this.
Strategy is Not Another Starbucks
I keep returning to a question from the back of my mind: What happens when we confuse structure with substance? When the map replaces the terrain, when replication takes precedence over relation? Walking through London last week, the answer seemed to echo from every street corner: sameness. The same storefronts, the same brands, the same logic of predictability—an efficiency model applied not just to commerce but to culture itself.
And strategy? It often follows the same path. The franchise model of thinking: best practices, templates, fixed visions. Neatly packaged, endlessly repeatable. But in a world governed by complexity, where every moment emerges through interwoven interactions, is strategy really something we can replicate?
If strategy is to be alive, it must be relational. It must acknowledge that the forces shaping an organization are not inputs to be controlled, but living, shifting dynamics to engage with.
This is where the Banyan Canvas comes in.
