Chris Kobylecki
“What’s your strategy?”. It’s such an easy question, yet such a complicated answer. A Lot of times this I hear an answer “Oh.. Our strategy is to increase ARR by 50% this year through launching 3 new features and expanding to 2 new markets” But here's a truth: Strategy is not Strategic Planning. Your plans are not your strategy…
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As Richard Rumelt puts it, "Strategy is a form of problem-solving. It starts with a gnarly challenge." Strategy addresses HOW to win in your market; planning only documents WHAT you'll do.
I love the example used in the book Bad Strategy Good Strategy about the space race: "Let's put a man on the moon and bring him back safely" that was a strategy of wining the tech race agains USSR vs “Running ‘The Apollo’ program with its timelines and resource allocations” which was planning. It’s Strategic Planning to solve the Strategy.
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Companies struggling with execution aren’t the ones lacking plans. They're missing coherent strategies with clear trade-offs(What we’re NOT focusing on). Without strategy, you're constantly firefighting rather than deliberately choosing where to compete and how to win. I know how easy it is to say we’re always busy. I’ve been there hundreds of times.
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One of my favourite TV series Newsroom starts with Will McAvoy saying “The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.” Spending some time to understand your core challenge takes a lot of will. We are programmed to jump into solutions before actually studying a problem. Spend more time actually defining the Problem, rather than jumping into solution immediately. Make conscious choices about what NOT to do. This creates strategic clarity that planning alone can't provide.