Strategy is content

Every strategy has the same basic propositional structure:

— problem/opportunity + actions (to address problem/ opportunity)

In this aspect, strategy could not be simpler.

Of course, the challenge is not structuring strategy, but determining and designing what the strategic problems and actions should be.

In other words, the real challenge with strategy, is content.

We see too many business people getting hung up on whether or not they are doing strategy the right way, or using the right tools, when they should really be worrying about whether they are seeing the most significant opportunities and defining the right set of actions to capture them.

You might be thinking this is a tautology: people worry about using the right tools *so that* they can produce the best insights on problems and actions.

That is true, however, in too many instances, the framework becomes the content (like the reporter becoming the story) in a way that leads to strategies disconnected from real problems.

For example, take the popular concept of ecosystems. Everyone wants an ecosystem strategy nowadays. The problem is ecosystem is part of the context of strategy, rather than the strategy (content) itself. Ecosystems generate challenges and opportunities about which strategy can be developed, but they don’t in themselves constitute the strategy, just because they are an important strategy framework.

Yes, understand as much as you can about your environment and internal situation, but don’t confuse your analysis with the strategy itself. Keep it simple: strategy = problem + action.