The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving 523: Boston Consulting Group's Martin Reeves on 'The Imagination Machine' (Strategy Skills classics)
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Feb 5, 2025 
Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, dives into the transformative power of imagination in business strategy. He discusses a systematic six-stage process for developing ideas and emphasizes the crucial role of creativity in organizational renewal. Reeves highlights innovative leadership methods that foster engagement and ambitious goals, using Unilever's success in India as a prime example. The conversation also reveals how blending human creativity with artificial intelligence can drive growth and innovation in today's dynamic landscape.
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Imagination As A Strategic Mode
- Imagination is a core mode of strategy when you must create markets that don't yet exist.
- Martin Reeves calls for a managed, collective "imagination machine" to industrialize creativity across the idea lifecycle.
The Six-Stage Cycle Of Ideas
- Imagination follows a six-stage cycle from surprise to renewal and institutionalization.
- Companies must support observation, model work, collision with reality, socialization, institutionalization, and self-disruption.
Practice Counterfactual Mental Work
- Deliberately work and stress your mental models using constraints, recombination, and counterfactual exercises.
- Teach teams counterfactual thinking because business schools rarely do and it accelerates breakthrough ideas.
