# The concept of strategy ## Source - [[book - Good strategy bad strategy]] mostly - [blog post](https://medium.com/mbreads/good-strategy-bad-strategy-b37b2563a4a3) - [[book - Sell with a story]] this definition allows us to sell the strategy as a story - [[book - Why Simple Wins - Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters]] - [[book - Wardley Maps]] as mapping can be seen as a required piece of strategy ## Keywords (topics and howto) - [[topic - leading and managing]] - defining a strategy is part of the job, and this approach makes it tangible - [[topic - mentoring, advising and coaching]] - helping other leaders understand what strategy is and how to implement it is something rare - [[topic - simplification]] - [[how to be a better leader]] - defining a strategy is part of the job, and this approach makes it tangible - [[how to get stuff done well]] - as strategy is about solving an important challenge by getting stuff done. - [[how to build trust]] having a clear strategy builds trust in the people around - [[how to be a better advisor]] - [[how to be a better communicator]] having a clear definition of strategy helps create the narrative ## Relevant notes - [[zt - be proactive]] by having a goal and a way to get to it - [[zt - story is king]] and when a strategy is a story, it has more chances of being done - [[zt - intent based leadership]] share the strategy and let people [[zt - hire brains not skills]][[zt - everyone is smart]] figure out how to do it [[zt - separate the thinking from the doing]] and [[zt - give space to the individual]] - [[zt - management and leadership]] - [[zt - chief simplification officer]] this is a simple definition of strategy - [[zt - without emotion there is no long-term memory]] by connecting the strategy to a challenge, we create the narrative ([[zt - we see based on our narrative]], [[zt - story is king]]) that will put the strategy in everybody's mind - [[zt - trust is a must for long term relationship]] build trust by providing simple strategy to clear problems - [[book - Wardley Maps]] as a way to identify the challenge, opportunities and the path forward. It can also be used to explain the strategy - Strategy focuses on limited objective having the biggest payoff [[zt - limit the loss but not the payoff]] - a good strategy helps keep the competition at bay [[zt - about competition]] and never ignores it - [[zt - the square approach to strategy]] ## Notes > "*you design strategy, you don't choose it*" ### What a strategy delivers > *A strategy delivers a pathway to substantially higher performance.* A strategy transforms value and desires (i.e. goals) into a coherent set of actionable objectives. ### Definitions - A strategy is a way through difficulty. An approach to overcome an obstacle, a response to a challenge. - A strategy is a way to overcome an obstacle. There needs to be a clear obstacle to overcome, and there needs to be a solution. - Strategy is a cohesive response to an important challenge. Strategy is about **action**. - The most basic idea of strategy is the application of strength against weakness. Or, if you prefer, strength applied to the most promising opportunity. - Strategy is a bridge between challenge and action. - Strategy needs to focus on small opportunities and jump on them with a coordinated effort. Jeff Bezos focuses on the three things customers will always want "cheaper, faster, more choice." - Strategy investigates the problem and provides a roadmap to focused efforts toward a solution [[zt - we see based on our narrative]] and [[zt - story is king]] ### What a strategy is not If you fail to identify and analyse the obstacle you don't have a strategy. Instead you have a stretch goal, a budget or a list of hope ### Strategy content - A good strategy has this kernel: Diagnosis (finding the issue), guiding policies, coherent actions (how the company will move forward) - You cannot be sure the chosen guiding policy is correct or the best, but without one, there can be no coherent actions ### The kernel of a good strategy #### Diagnosis - **A diagnosis** that defines to explains the nature of the challenge. A good diagnosis simplifies the often overwhelming complexity of reality by identifying certain aspects of the situation as critical. - A diagnosis answer the question: "What's going on here?" - A diagnosis summarise the overwhelming complexity of reality into a simpler model to be used as a base for problem solving. - how the planet will look like for the engineers. - A good diagnosis defines a scope of action - This is like the "why of purpose" in [[book - Wardley Maps]] #### A guiding policy - **A guiding policy** for dealing with the challenge. This is an overall approach chosen to cope with or overcome the obstacles identified in the diagnosis. Like guardrails on the highway, the guiding policy directs and constrains action without fully defining its content. A good guiding policy is not goals, visions, or images of the desired state; rather, they define a method of grappling with the situation and ruling out a vast array of possible actions. #### A set of coherent actions - **A set of coherent actions** that are designed to carry out the guiding policy. These are steps that are coordinated with one another to work together in accomplishing the guiding policy. - Wardley Maps and [[Wardley's Gameplay]] is a great way to identify the places with good potential. #### Connecting the concepts with a real example You go to the doctor because you have a problem. The doctor will ask for information and will deliver a **diagnosis**. The doctor will then set a high-level treatment for such diagnosis, for example, "get your pressure down"; this is **a guiding policy**. Then the doctor will set a list of things to do, like eating more vegetables, exercising and taking pills, to implement the guiding policy; this is the **set of coherent actions**. ### Guide to coherent efforts - Coherent effort requires centralisation and a top-down approach that is costly politically and should be limited to only the most significant objectives. - **Leverage** - Strategy harnesses the power and applies it where it has the most effect. - This should also be used against the competition - find an imbalance where a small change can have a big effect - Find the most unstable point and apply all your energy to it - **Focus** - focus is needed because, under a certain level of effort, no results are achieved. Small effects can compound, like cigarettes (negative) or sports (positive). - It is important to focus on the [[zt - focus all your energy on the weakest link]] and to focus on one thing at a time - focus and coordination are what allow the creation of a unique product - **excution** - There are layers of skills to do something, and you first need to master the prerequisites. - for flying: learn to land, then to fly, then night fly, then formation, finally landing on a boat - Doc, measure, progress - A good vision/mission makes for easier decisions. It makes the world black and white. - Simplify decision making: - Listen to all, then decide - Force people to make a decision - Empower frontline people [[book - Turn the ship around]], [[zt - leading from any chair]], [[zt - let them lead]]