Hi-
I realize that one thing I spend a lot of time on with my clients is strategy. That’s always been the case, but the difference is that I didn’t realize that was what I was doing.
As I realized I needed to strengthen my strategic thinking ability, I went out in search of the kinds of strategic education that would help me achieve the goals I had for myself.
It was tougher than I might have imagined.
Earlier this week, I jotted down my ideas on my strategy principles on Medium.
This morning, I’m going to attempt to lay out a few ideas about what strategy is and what it isn’t and how I can move forward in deepening my knowledge of strategy.
So…this is a test and only a test.
What is strategy?
My marketing professor taught me that I needed to build my own definition of what a brand is and over the years I settled on a brand being the accumulation of all of the interactions positive and negative that folks have with your brand over their lifetime.
I think having a definition of strategy is helpful as well and I’ve become to hold the definition that Dr. Kumal Munir used in my strategic thinking course: “Why do some businesses succeed while others fail?”
Another definition I like comes from possibly the best strategy teacher in the world, Roger L. Marting, when he says that “Strategy is choice. What to do and what not to do.”
Michael Porter, the famous Harvard professor, likes to talk about the strategy being about maintaining a competitive position.
And, the authors of the book, Blue Ocean Strategy, talk about balancing differentiation and low cost at the same time to create new space.
For me, I’ve embraced Dr. Munir’s take, but my definition is strategy is about giving yourself the opportunity to create and capture opportunities in any market.
To that end, the definition of Blue Ocean Strategy seems most removed from my own definition.
What strategy isn’t?
Tactification is the danger at the heart of the failure of modern marketing.
Tactics have come to dominate for a few reasons like it is easy for snake oil salesman to push tactics with their hustle bro mantras.
The strategy also isn’t anything to do with tools, technology, or implementation.
Strategy needs these things to be successful, often. But these are all tools to execute the strategy.
Why are there so few great strategy classes and teachers?
First, it is hard.
Most people aren’t very good at it. And, strategic thinking in a world full of noise, nonsense, and increased moment-to-moment pressure isn’t a world that is conducive to strategic thinking.
Second, most companies benefit from selling tactical tools, technology, diagnostics. So selling strategy isn’t a priority.
How do I move forward?
In my work in “The Whiteboard Workshop” and with various clients, I’ve created my framework for strategic thinking and teaching focused around these five ideas:
- The organizational ambition
- Your market focus
- The value proposition
- Your resources
- Your actions
Using this framework, I’ll funnel my thinking and focus to help create a self-directed curriculum that fits my needs of helping me solve the definition of why some organizations and others fail.
A little different than normal, but let me know what you think.
Dave