​    Pathfinding is more than just strategic planning. It is a continuous process employing a mode of thought to apply to any challenges or aspirations you have. Pathfinding helps business organizations reach their goals.
     Creating a culture within your organization that values continuous discovery and mapping, pathfinding leads to long-term sustainable results. Every individual and every skill in an organization can contribute at all times to pathfinding. Because it is an ongoing way of thinking, you can continuously apply it.



     We can understand pathfinding by using GPS as an example.
When you want to drive somewhere, your car is at the start; the goal is your desired destination. Where streets intersect, your GPS makes decisions according to set criteria, and if you ask, it gives you alternate routes. Sometimes there is really only one way to go, but usually, you have several options, and you need to decide whether to take the route that has fewer stop signs but more traffic, or the shortest distance, or the quickest, or the one that allows you to pick up the dry cleaning on the way. You make those decisions according to what is important, by giving weight to criteria for each segment of the trip. Sometimes, the decision making is complex, and sometimes (like an unexpected traffic jam) you change from your planned route. Your GPS helps you with all of this complex decision-making by giving you a mapped route that can flex with options.
      In business, you can think of pathfinding as the GPS, using brainpower (GPS algorithms) to assess the criteria between nodal points (street intersections) where a decision must be made. As with a GPS, you need six essential components to make good business decisions. You need to:

1. Know where you are, the start.
2. Know where you want to go, your goal.
3. Have a good map that includes your points of decisions, your nodal points.
4. Have accurate and continuous information on the environment you are going to navigate.
5. Determine the criteria used to weigh the relative benefits of each segment of the path.
6. Have a good algorithm (brainpower) to assess the criteria.

With these six components, you can find your path, and execute it.
We have experienced that when Steps 1-4 are conscientiously followed, Steps 5 and 6 are rarely an issue. We consider the actions in the first four points to be “divergent,” meaning that your organization is continuously given the chance to challenge, learn, explore and migrate outward. Points 5 and 6 are “convergent,” where organizational alignment is essential. The concept of divergence and convergence are key to the positive cultural change pathfinding contributes to your organization. It is where freethinking and alignment coexist. If sudden environmental changes occur, you can trust your organization to adjust the path in a timely and efficient manner.
     Dynamic and inclusive, pathfinding is much more than typical strategic planning because it is a continuous process,
At Advancing Simplicity we can help you get started applying pathfinding techniques to your organization. We have created pathfinding for business development and we believe it is here to stay.   Extremely flexible, deep and rich, pathfinding powerfully changes your organization and its long-term results for the best.
. We draw on more than 30 years of global experience with small and Fortune 100 companies in creating and implementing new and unique B2B and B2C business models.