“20 Mile March”

In their book Great by Choice, Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen studied the common characteristics of seven companies that have been able to “thrive in uncertainty” for a period of at least 15 years. One of the four common characteristics identified by Collins and Hansen was something they call the “20 Mile March”. The term 20 Mile March refers to a company having the discipline, commitment, adaptability and innovation to be able to meet self-imposed objectives consistently on a given performance cycle despite a significant level of turbulence and uncertainty in the company’s external environment.

Although not specifically highlighted by Collins and Hansen, the 20 Mile March is effectively a form of Adaptive Iteration as explained by the following comparison:

• The performance cycle for the 20 Mile March imposes an iteration cycle on company.
• The need to achieve performance consistently, despite a high level of external variation, imposes a need to monitor and interpret the external environment very closely and to be able to adapt and innovate in response.
• The resultant need for rapid adaptation and innovation creates a further need to build a portfolio of response (design) options and the associated capabilities to deploy them.
• The need to be able to achieve consistent performance over a relatively short performance cycle requires the ability to change and respond rapidly with confidence. In a dynamic and turbulent context, this can only be achieved consistently through the use of a predominantly experimental approach that enables the rapid evaluation and scale-up of a range of options.