3HAG Way Book Review

A client asked me to evaluate Shannon Susko’s book 3HAG Way: The Strategic Execution Systems that Ensures Your Strategy is Not a Wild-Ass-Guess! He was looking for something on strategy that would complement what he is doing with Gino Wickman’s Traction Entrepreneur Operating System (EOS).
I was immediately seduced by the logical thought processes for a leadership team to create their “strategy” using several models and processes:

• Core Purpose – why your company exists
• Core Values – the consistent, accepted behaviors of your team members
• BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) or “vision”
• Profit/X – how you make money at it
• Your “3HAG” that stems from your BHAG but with a three-year horizon
• 3-5 Key Capabilities/Differentiating Actions that must be in place to achieve the 3HAG
• Key Process Flow Map identifies which functions are key to making money
• Organization Function Chart that clarified accountability
• The Core Customer – an individual person who will buy from your company for an optimal profit
• Market Map – a view of all the players in the marketplace, where your company fits in, and what actions you might need to take as a result of a poor position
• Attribution Framework – how you can position your company to serve the needs of your core customers
• Activity Fit Map shows all the tactical moves that would be necessary to differentiate the company
• One-Phrase Strategy that makes the strategy relatable to everyone in the company and helps them to focus on what’s most important
• Swimlanes – a specific, achievable quarter-by-quarter roadmap
• 36-month, month-over-month Rolling Forecast that aligns with the swimlanes
• The Brand Promise with a Guarantee
• The “Secret Sauce” – the unique solution to a problem in your industry that no one wants to solve
• 3HAG Metronome – the cadence of meetings to ensure success
• Hedgehog Concept – the one thing you can be best at in the world

All of these concepts are described, along with the process to use, and a relevant example from the author’s experience.

The models she uses are a mashup of some of the great strategic business authors: Verne Harnish, Jim Collins, Michael Porter, Kaihan Krippendorff, Alexader Osterwalder, Geoffrey Moore, Robert Bloom – and they make sense in the way they are presented and the logical flow as the team creates one deliverable after another.

As a facilitator, I can use these models to gain clearer thinking on a company’s strategy. I highly recommend it!

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