A simple explanation of strategy
Yesterday I attended a webinar on strategy from a leading HBR contributor and author of 5 books on the subject. After it I was more confused about strategy than before! The presenter got bogged down in all the cliched debates about the differences between strategy and planning, strategy and exection, strategy and stakeholder management, etc. The experience led me to remind myself of a simple defintion of strategy that may be given to anyone who asks:
What is a strategy?
A set of choices.
Choices about what?
The most important problems and opportunities facing your business (or organisation, or function, or country, etc.)
How do I know what the most important problems and opportunities facing me are?
Identify the issues— internal and external — that would have the biggest positive impact on your performance, that you are finding most difficult at the moment, and focus on those for the next 12–18 months. Choose ways to address them and stick to it.
That’s strategy.