Faith-Inspired Strategy

– Aligning decisions through thoughtful consultation

STRATEGY BEGINS WITH ALIGNMENT

This week’s theme in the newsletter is Faith-Inspired Strategy: applying Qur’anic and Prophetic wisdom to vision, decisions and direction. When we think about strategy, we often think of plans, targets and analysis. Yet strategy begins earlier — in the conversations through which people align around a direction.

Across many years of facilitation and leadership work, I have been present when groups were trying to decide important matters together. I have seen this in strategy retreats, corporate task-force meetings, coaching sessions, community committees, and when chairing the inaugural executive committee meeting of a residents association. The settings differ, yet the intention is similar. People care deeply about their responsibilities, and still clarity does not always come easily.

Over time I realised that strategy depends not only on expertise. It depends on how we listen and speak before deciding. When dialogue is shaped with care, alignment becomes possible. Alignment does not mean everyone prefers the same option. It means people understand the reasoning and can move forward responsibly together.

The Qur’an reminds us about consultation as a way of life:

“…and whose affairs are conducted by consultation (shura) among themselves…” — Qur’an 42:38

Shura is not merely a meeting. It is a discipline of thoughtful dialogue that shapes strategy.

GOING DEEPER INTO A PRACTICE

Recently, The Malaysian Reserve published my article, Strengthening Decisions Together: A Modern Shura. That article introduced the idea briefly. In this edition, I would like to go deeper into the practice itself.

Through facilitation work, corporate project meetings, mastermind circles, and family discussions, a simple dialogue approach gradually took shape. I call it Strengthening Decisions Together, or SDT. The name reflects a deliberate observation: we strengthen outcomes by strengthening decisions together.

WHY STRATEGY NEEDS DESIGNED DIALOGUE

In many organisations and communities, people are sincere (ikhlas) and capable (qadir). Yet meetings sometimes drift because the decision question is not clearly named, assumptions remain unspoken, or responsibility is not clarified. Without structure, conversation becomes tense or circular. With tactful structure, dialogue becomes more composed and clearer.

Designed dialogue does not remove differences of view. It helps people understand one another before moving forward. When understanding grows, trust grows. When trust grows, alignment becomes possible.

Alignment is not consensus. It is a shared willingness to move forward with a decision that has been thoughtfully considered.

Read More “Horizoning With Amanah: Strengthening Decisions Together”

– Faith-Consciousizing a popular method of business model generation

BMC here refers to the Business Model Canvas. On a single canvas (page), you get to view nine building blocks of a business. Many strategists, consultants and entrepreneurs use it as a practical, visual tool to design and iterate their business model.

See it mentioned (with a twist) in this short video below, in a recent meetup of Faith-Conscious Professionals:

(If you can’t view the video above, click here.)

In that masterclass on Islamic Entrepreneurship, George Bohlender from Dragonfire Corporate Solutions Sdn Bhd included a spiritual perspective of BMC!

In this newsletter edition, I share (with George’s permission) the “Islamic BMC” template found in his course material and I attempt to interpret and discuss what it means to see the BMC through a faith-conscious lens.

I hope to participate in the entire Islamic Entrepreneurship masterclass in future. For now I revisit the BMC, requesting guidance from George, my other BMC mentors and readers here. I stand corrected, and welcome your comments so that my own BMC can be updated and refined, insha Allah.

NINE BLOCKS OF BMC EXTENDED TO THIRTEEN

The original Strategyzer BMC looks like this:

Read More “Bee Em See…, B.M.C…. : Revisiting BMC With Some Spirituality… !”

– Why Muslim leaders must unlearn defaults and generate autonomous frameworks of strategy

UNDER ATTACK, OBVIOUS AND NOT SO

The attack on humanity of late has me lost for extremely negative adjectives. We awaken and we don’t want to allow the way of the perpetrators to go on. We find in our ways, big or small to counter these madness with what should be absolute right.

For both the blatant transgressions that are reported and streamed on our daily screens, and the “silent killers” that over the decades we allowed ourselves to be programmed with, we want to find and implement better ways.

In Edition #1, I lamented on the silent killer of coloniality: the unseen continuation of colonial mindsets in leadership and strategy. Over our professional lifetime, colionality continues in the way we define “success,” “progress,” “business” and “strategy” today. Like a fish in water, we swim along not really aware we are in water.

Read More “Reforming Strategy: Towards Faith-Conscious Knowledge and Practice”