Strategy Meets Reality Podcast Planning to Adapt: Johan Ivari on Strategy, Narrative, and the Set-Based Approach
Planning isn’t about precision—it’s about possibility.
In this episode, Mike Jones is joined by Johan Ivari—Swedish Armed Forces officer, lecturer at the Swedish Defence University, and author of A Set-Based Approach: Searching for the Problem–Solution Eclipse. Together, they explore how strategy and execution can remain viable in a world shaped by unpredictability and complexity.
Johan challenges the illusion of control, unpacks why detailed plans often collapse on contact with reality, and explains how the set-based approach protects adaptability by expanding options, not narrowing them. From mission command and viable systems to cognitive agency and feedback loops, this episode is a rich exploration of thinking, learning, and leading in real time.
🔍 In this episode:
- Why narrative—not metrics—should lead execution
- The danger of detailed plans and false certainty
- How viable systems enable distributed action and coherence
- Why leaders must protect their organisation’s capacity to act
- The value of affordances and ‘coarse’ planning
- Why set-based planning improves decision quality and learning
🎧 Keywords: Set-Based Planning, Viable Systems, Mission Command, Complexity, Strategy Execution, Feedback Loops, Agency, Command and Control, Adaptive Leadership
📘 Read Johan’s paper: A Set-based Approach
📬 Connect with Johan: LinkedIn
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🔗 Full episodes, show notes, and resources: https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast
📺 Watch on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@StrategyMeetsReality
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout
💬 Connect with host Mike Jones → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-h-jones/