Strategy is a philosophy of becoming, a chance to create the conditions to enable the change we seek to make in the world.
Seth Godin
When the boss demands a strategy that comes with certainty and proof, we’re likely to settle for a collection of chores, tasks, and tactics, which is not the same as an elegant, resilient strategy. To do strategy right, we need to lean into possibility.
Takeaways of Note:
To Avoid Strategy Myopia:
- Refuse false proxies – solving future problems is always less efficient than the status quo. Strategy almost always begins inconvenient & inefficient… but what’s challenging now will get easier over time.
- Choose your customers, choose your future – visualize the customer and serve their needs as the world changes… move to where your customers are hoping to go, they’ll adopt what you care about.
- Choose your team – don’t default to people with power on the org chart. Choose from a spectrum of attitudes & skills. Seek people eager to build something that’s not there yet.
- Big problems demand small solutions – Find small viable markets, not the biggest possible one and spend less time in focus groups, and more in putting solutions into people’s hands. Waiting until a new idea is proven & successful will cost us the future.
- Insist on interesting questions, not correct answers – begin by looking for problems… problems demand solutions, solutions become projects, projects become industries.
Bonus Nugget
As many other strategy experts have warned over the years, if you’re going in the wrong direction, it doesn’t matter how fast you’re going.
Work on strategy today. You can always make plans tomorrow.