Schwerpunkt: The Way Businesses Get Their People To Seize Opportunities, Shatter Competitors

In the high-stakes world of business, success hinges on more than just a solid strategy – it demands a unified workforce that can seize opportunities and outmaneuver the competition. This is where the concept of Schwerpunkt comes in, a potent military principle that, when applied to business, can become an organization’s secret weapon. Indeed, business leaders who adopt the Schwerpunkt mindset, harness a power of focused intent, rapid decision-making, and a deep understanding of their competitor’s vulnerabilities. As a result, their team is transformed into a cohesive unit capable of shattering obstacles and dominating the marketplace. 

In this article, I’ll introduce you to the concept of Schwerpunkt. I’ll first look at how this military concept was formed out of necessity and innovation on the battlefield to power decisive maneuver warfare. Also, I’ll break down the components of Schwerpunkt and how it can empower businesses. This includes how business leaders can use the Schwerpunkt approach to communicate their intentions, their “Main Effort”. Further, I’ll explain how it enables initiative and decisiveness at all levels of an organization. Lastly, I’ll show you how businesses can use this Schwerpunkt mindset to identify a competitor’s “center of gravity” in order to shatter their rivals’ cohesiveness and strengths.

1. Schwerpunkt: A Military Concept Applicable to Business Leaders, Communicating Organizational Objectives Within a Competitive Environment.

Schwerpunkt is a German term that military theorists have advocated as a superior method for  combat leaders to communicate their intentions to their subordinates. This military concept is also very applicable to business leaders in communicating their decisions and intent to their organizations, especially in a highly competitive environment. To get a better understanding of this concept, let’s start with some definitions.

Schwerpunkt Definitions

“center of gravity, main focus”

Cambridge Dictionary – German-English translation of Schwerpunkt

“the center of all power and movement (Zentrum der Kraft und Bewegung) … upon which everything depends”

Clausewitz – 18th century Prussian general and military theorist 

Indeed, the term “schwerpunkt” as defined by Clausewitz in the 18th century is difficult to translate from German. Moreover within the military, the term has continued to evolve and has several variations. Most importantly, many different militaries including American combat leaders have used the Schwerpunkt concept to direct their armed forces with great success even into the 21st century. Also, what is striking is that military leaders have successfully leveraged this concept even as the weapons of war and technology have significantly changed over the centuries. Moreover, Schwerpunkt has significant applications for today’s businesses that also operate within an ever-changing tech landscape and competitive environments.

Specifically, there are three advantages for businesses to use this Schwerpunkt concept. These includes:

Three Advantages for Today’s Businesses to Use the Schwerpunkt Approach

Types Of Innovation for a Business Breakthrough: What You Need to Know, Characteristics, Best Strategies

• Offers Leaders a Superior Method to Communicate Their Intentions to Subordinates. It is an innovative way for business leaders to convey their intention and targeted outcomes, the “main effort”, across the organization.
• Empowers Initiative Within the Organization. It enables subordinates to use their initiative, make rapid decisions, adapt, anticipate, and create opportunities.
• Shatters the Cohesiveness of Competitors. It does this by providing a strategy for businesses to disorient and unhinge their competitor’s “Center of Gravity” to preclude them from maximizing their strengths. 

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

Alan Kay

In the rest of this article, I’ll examine the advantages of Schwerpunkt in more depth, focusing on how it empowers both leaders and teams to achieve their goals. I’ll also look at how the Schwerpunkt approach serves as a proven strategy for businesses to thrive in today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving operational and technological landscape.

2. The Main Effort: Leaders Shape their Organization’s Future by Communicating their Intent and Targeted Outcomes. 

First at its heart, Schwerpunkt enables a leader to successfully shape an organization’s trajectory. Further, it is a way to clearly articulate a leader’s intent and the desired outcomes in achieving organizational objectives. Indeed, through Schwerpunkt leaders set the compass bearing for the entire team. Moreover, it is a way of focused communication that serves as the rallying cry, inspiring all levels of the organization to work in tandem towards a shared objective. When leaders embody the Schwerpunkt mindset, they empower their people to make decisions that support the overarching strategy. Thus, this fosters a culture of alignment and purpose that propels the business forward.

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

So, Schwerpunkt is a way to convey your strategic target, your “main effort”, communicated in terms of outcomes. For instance, below are some examples of a Schwerpunkt mission statement from both the military and business.

Examples of Organizations Communicating their Schwerpunkt, their “Main Effort”

• Control Baghdad in 72 hours – U.S. military objective in 2002
• Obtain 15 million subscribers – Dish Network
• Selling consistently quality food across the globe – McDonalds

Hence, instead of an organization’s leadership listing a long list of priorities, they state their “main effort” in a short mission statement. This way there is no confusion on what the priority is and it keeps it simple for subordinates to follow. Further, a Schwerpunkt is best stated in terms of H-hour or D-day to explicitly define a place and time for achieving the organization’s desired outcome. Lastly, this statement of Schwerpunkt or intent is a shaping agent that provides organizational cohesion that channels subordinates toward achieving the organization’s main goal. 

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

Stephen Covey

3. The Competitor’s Center of Gravity: Focus on Disorienting and Unhinging your Rivals to Preclude Them from Maximizing their Strengths.

In military terms, Schwerpunkt or “center of gravity” also refers to the opponent’s key strength or source of power. Indeed for businesses, identifying and targeting a competitor’s center of gravity can make the difference between an enterprise’s success or failure. This is because with this vital knowledge about a competitor, businesses can develop effective strategies that disrupt and disorient their rivals. As a result, businesses can execute a plan that prevents their competitors from fully leveraging their advantages, thus enabling their organization to gain a decisive upper hand. 

So, by leveraging this Schwerpunkt approach, leaders gain the knowledge to pinpoint their competitor’s vulnerabilities and strike accordingly. Thus using this competitive approach, their business rivals become off-balance and struggle to compete. Further, this proactive approach allows businesses to shape the competitive landscape to their advantage, setting the stage for unparalleled success. Below, I’ll fully define what a competitor’s “center of gravity” means for business. Also, I’ll describe an approach on how to devise a plan to attack the competition’s center of gravity. Lastly, I’ll explain how this Schwerpunkt approach works within a fluid, competitive business decision cycle.

a. Center of Gravity Defined.

First, let’s define what the enemy or a competitor’s center of gravity is. Below are two definitions.

Definitions for a Center of Gravity

“the hub of all power and movement,”

Carl von Clausewitz

“A Centre of Gravity is latent and transitory. Like a Main Effort it has to be built and sustained so that it can be applied at specific times and places. We don’t necessarily look at mass – we are looking at how he will use all the forces at his disposal to generate strength and seek decision.”

Michael G Krause

This second definition as described by Major General Krause provides more context to the meaning of the “Center of Gravity”. Specifically, it describes exactly what to look for when determining an opponent’s “Main Effort”. Namely, that we need to determine the source of the enemy’s strength before they can fully maximize it. Thus with this information, we can devise a plan to neutralize the competitor’s latent strength before it can come to bear against our strengths. Ideally, our aim, our plan, is to hit their latent strength, the enemy’s “Center of Gravity”. Consequently, the enemy’s Schwerpunkt is both latent and transitory. Most importantly, it should not be at its greatest strength when we strike it with our strength.

b. Steps to Identify an Opponent’s Center of Gravity and Devise a Plan to Shatter It.

So, how does identifying a competitor’s center of gravity or Schwerpunkt help a business to succeed? The answer is that by identifying a competitor’s main effort a business can devise a strategy to maximize their organization’s strength, their Schwerpunkt, when their competitors are weakest. In fact, a Schwerpunkt approach maximizes opportunities to disrupt and even unhinge the competition before they can bring their strengths to bear. To illustrate this planning process, Major General Krause’s article, Clausewitz and Centres of Gravity: Turning the Esoteric into Practical Outcomes, outlines the planning steps a leader can take to devise a plan for shattering the competition. See below:

Planning Steps to Neutralize a Competitor’s Center of Gravity 

• Step 1. Identify the Opponent’s Main Effort. Here, a business identifies its competitor’s Center of Gravity that they use to generate their strengths. Specifically, what are the opponent’s critical requirements to generate its strengths.
• Step 2. Identify the delta between the enemy’s current strength and his desired strength. This “delta” is the opponent’s critical requirements. This can include such things like specific knowledge they need, preliminary actions they need to take, or resources they require to maximize their strengths.
• Step 3. Identify all the things that your business can do to stop or degrade the competitor’s critical requirements. This is where the business starts to identify its own Main Effort to beat out the competition. In this step, you are devising a plan that will shock and shatter the opponent’s capabilities by attacking the key components of the competitor’s Main Effort. Thus, making the competition ineffective.
• Step 4. Communicating your Schwerpunkt, your plan, to your organization. Here, you communicate to your subordinates your intention and targeted outcomes, your Schwerpunkt. 

Also, this process of finding and exploiting a competitor’s center of gravity is an on-going process that I’ll explain below.

c. The Iterative OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Action) Loop Decision Framework to Identify and Exploit Competitor’s Center of Gravity. 

A closely associated military concept to Schwerpunkt is the OODA Loop decision framework. As with Schwerpunkt, this decision-making approach is very applicable to today’s highly competitive, technology-advanced business landscape. The origins of this decision-making framework comes from lessons-learned of aerial combat and refined by military strategists in the 20th century. Basically, it is an iterative decision-making process of Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. So, the Schwerpunkt concept of identifying the Center of Gravity of a competitor and formulating a business’ main effort, is well suited to this agile decision-making framework. For more information on the OODA Loop, see this article, The Forgotten OODA Loop: It’s An Amazing Military Decision Framework And Awesome Gift To Business.

The Forgotten OODA Loop: It’s An Amazing Military Decision Framework And Awesome Gift To Business

4. A Common Outlook Enables Initiative and Cohesiveness Throughout the Organization: It Empowers Rapid Decision-Making, to Adapt, to Anticipate, and Create Opportunities.

Schwerpunkt is about more than just top-down directives – it’s about cultivating a shared understanding that empowers action at every level. It is a contract between the leader who allows subordinates to use their initiative, and where subordinates agree to act within the leader’s intent. This in turn empowers and harmonizes the organization. At every level the enterprise can make swift decisions that capitalize on emerging opportunities and adapting to changing situations. This collective awareness allows the organization to move with agility, outflanking competitors through its ability to anticipate and respond rapidly to shifting market conditions. 

By embracing Schwerpunkt, businesses can unlock the full potential of their people, transforming them into a nimble, opportunity-driven workforce. The key advantages of Schwerpunkt providing a common outlook for organizational initiative include:

Organizational Advantages of Using the Schwerpunkt Approach  

• Rapid Decision Making. Schwerpunkt eliminates the need for decision-makers to have to check with higher ups before making a decision and taking action. Specifically, decision-makers at all levels operate according to their own tempo to make decisions at the time and place of their choosing. Bureaucracy is minimized, Initiative is maximized.
• Able to Adapt. Here, all levels of the organization are empowered to rapidly adapt as the situation changes. Indeed, subordinates in a fluid environment have the license to innovate as long as they are aligned with supporting the Main Effort. Additionally, by Schwerpunkt providing singular focus for an organization, this reduces complexity within large organizations. Thus, this makes it easier, even for large businesses, to adjust and change to unforeseen circumstances.
• Anticipate Rapidly Enfolding Events. Schwerpunkt encourages all levels of the organization to be proactive. Indeed, they are incentivised to gather key information that is important to them in supporting the organization’s Main Effort versus waiting on their leaders to tell them what to do next. Thus, the organization as a whole has the predictive insights at all levels to anticipate, prepare, and act on new information. 
• Create Opportunities, Disrupts Competition. Also by decentralizing decision-making, the organization jointly moves towards its common purpose. However at the same time, subordinates can make multiple thrusts within and in support of the Main Effort. A byproduct of these multiple thrusts, are new discoveries that can create unforeseen opportunities to succeed. Further, this multi-pronged approach helps to confuse and disorient opponents.

Conclusion.

So, in this article, I have introduced you to the military concept of Schwerpunkt. Also, I have detailed how business leaders who have this mindset can direct their organization from success to success. Specifically, the advantages of Schwerpunkt for businesses include:

• Business leaders can use the Schwerpunkt approach to effectively communicate their intentions and desired outcomes, their “Main Effort”.
• All levels of the organization gain initiative and decisiveness. 
• Competitors shattered by businesses having the Schwerpunkt mindset to identify a competitor’s “Center of Gravity”.

By businesses embracing change, empowering their people, and harnessing digital technologies, businesses can turn disruption into opportunity and shape the future they desire. Click here to find out what Business Agility means in this age of digital disruption. Also, I’ll focus on past examples where agility was the key to success in dynamic situations involving rapid technology transformations. Additionally by leveraging the wisdom of these past agile endeavors, I’ll provide an example of how business agility works within a rapid decision cycle. Lastly, I’ll detail specific reasons why business agility is critical in this age of digital change.

More References.

For more references on Schwerpunkt, see below:

• Patterns of Conflict by John R. Boyd. This is a foundational paper on the OODA Loop military concept and the use of Schwerpunkt for decision-making in a rapidly changing and competitive environment.
• Strat­egy bogged down by reality? and Top Ten Strategy Tricks: #10 Schwerpunkt by Ted S Galpin. These short articles provide excellent military examples of the use of Schwerpunkt within a rapidly fluid situation.
• Where is your Schwerpunkt? by Bryan Yager. This article focuses on Schwerpunkt helping to set priorities and not getting distracted on the little things.
• Clausewitz and Centres of Gravity: Turning the Esoteric into Practical Outcomes by Michael G Krause. Excellent article on the practical implementation of Schwerpunkt to include steps on devising a plan to shatter an opponent’s “center of gravity”.
• The Forgotten OODA Loop: It’s An Amazing Military Decision Framework And Awesome Gift To Business. An overview on OODA Loop decision-making framework and its applicability to business.
• Schwerpunkt: The Killer Strategic Concept You’ve Never Heard Of (But Really Need To Know!) by Greg Satell. Provides a great business example of Schwerpunkt in a story about Steve Jobs and Apple.
• OODA & OKRs: How Can They Work Together? by Sam Prince. A great article tying together the concept of Schwerpunkt, the OODA Loop decision-making framework, and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). OKR is a goal setting framework attributed to Andrew Grove who introduced this approach to Intel in the 1970s.
• Business Agility: The Best Way For Leveraging Digital Tech To Disrupt Competitors, Seize Opportunities, And Overcome Obstacles by SC Tech Insights.

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