The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking

THE DISCIPLINE OF PATTERN RECOGNITION

dramatic increase in merger and acquisition activity in US healthcare, driven by declining profits, uncertainty over regula tory policy, and new market entrants funded with private capital. Seeing these emerging patterns, Woods concluded that the industry was ripe for consolidation. He soon realized that many of his fellow CEOs recognized the potential but had no takeover targets or plans. “Many were​ heads-​down, dealing with significant market dynamics,” Woods says. “This became a h​eads-​up conversation, and that created new possibilities.” Woods rapidly identified opportunities, then charted a promising path forward for his organization. In 2018, CHS merged with the G​eorgia-​based healthcare system Navi cent Health, and the combined entity was renamed Atrium Health. The enlarged company subsequently completed several acquisitions and, in 2022, combined with another large organ ization, as mentioned in the Introduction, to form the fifth largest ​non-​profit healthcare system in the United States. Why is pattern recognition so valuable? If you can’t recognize threats and opportunities, you cannot pri oritize and mobilize your organization to deal with them. Like most executives, you likely are steering your business through rapid changes in competition, technology and society. At the same time, you are under ever more pressure to improve per formance and transform your organization. In such challenging times, you face increasing ​mental-​processing challenges. You must be able to assess rapidly evolving situations, predict their trajectories and adapt your strategies accordingly. That is where pattern recognition comes in so handy. Insight is power. If you can better recognize patterns in complex,​

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