What is Strategy?

Read time: 4 minutes

Hey there 👋 - it's Brian.

In today's issue, we'll explain what strategy really is, and lay the groundwork for making our strategies together next Thursday.

I became fascinated with strategy after I read Roger Martin's story on how he made Procter & Gamble's culture strategic (link at the end). This culture shift turned the company around at a time where people referred to their main skincare product as "Oil of Old Lady."

Ouch.

I started doing strategy work for clients and was hooked on the impact that making strategic choices had.

I found myself helping clients think through:
• Should we enter new markets? How?
• What customers should we target?
• What products should we launch?
• What's the future vision for our company?

Do strategy right and you'll grow revenue at a rapid pace, and keep your business safe from competitors.

Thanks to Roger Martin and Michael Porter for this strategy framework.

Let's get into what strategy really is:

What is strategy?

You use strategy to figure out what things you'll do better than competitors (or what things you'll do differently) to give you an unfair advantage and help you win.

Basically:
• Do different things than your competitors
• Do the same things, but in a different way

Or to quote Roger Martin: "Strategy is an integrated set of choices that position you to win."

Each word in that definition is a critical concept, so let's explain the concepts for strategy and how you can use it for your business:

Choices

Strategy is choosing to do some things, and choosing not to do others

Make sure you clearly lay out what you’re NOT doing. It's hard to say you won't do something, but focusing your resources will help you win.

Sounds simple, but most people confuse a strategic choice with a best practice!

If everyone should be doing it, it's probably a best practice. A strategic choice is one where both options are possible.

In other words, the opposite of your choice isn’t stupid!

Here's an example:

We’ll have a competitive advantage by treating our customers better than everyone else.

Now let's run that strategy through the opposite test: we’ll treat our customers WORSE than every else.

Stupid isn’t it? Having great customer experience is a best practice. Every business should do it. This doesn't give you a competitive advantage - so change it.

Integrated

You'll make a few choices. And those choices are in the context of your business environment.

This means to get the most out of your strategy and increase the chances that you win, you need to make choices in a way that support each other and use the advantages your business has.

Advantages aren't just a random list of activities. The activities that you choose to do, need to come together like puzzle pieces. This amplifies the value of each activity, and helps you create your unfair advantage.

Positioning

Positioning is making sure your customers are clear how your product solve their specific problem better than anyone else.

To have a clear positioning you need to understand:• Customer pain• What alternatives exist (e.g., competitors)• How your solution is better than anything on the market

Have a clear understanding of what problem you're targeting and how you're better than any alternatives on the market.

To win

Everyone has a slightly different vision - meaning different definitions of what it means to win. You need to be clear on what it means for you to win.

For you, does winning mean:
• Most sustainable business?
• Best customer experience?
• More customers?
• More revenue?
• More profit?

Each definition leads to different choices.

Ready to build your strategy?

Great!

I'll break down a simple way to create your strategy in the next issue.

Can't wait until next Thursday?

Reply to this email with something as simple as "I'd love help with my strategy" and I'll point you to resources to help.

I read every email and will answer your questions in future content.

Clickworthy Resources

• Book: The most actionable, simplest explanation of strategy through a case study at P&G (Playing to Win - Click here)

• Blog: The author of "Playing to Win" wrote a blog to answer follow up questions from the book. Recommend starting from his older articles as they build on each other (Roger Martin Blog - Click here)

• Article: Michael Porter distinguishes Strategy from Operational Effectiveness in his HBR article, What is Strategy (Click here)

Hope it's been helpful!

If you enjoyed it, please forward this email to friends looking to grow their business.

See ya next week,

Brian