Defining "strategy"
Proposing an actionable definition of a fuzzy term
What is “strategy”? I have a new working definition:
Strategy is focusing force on a point of leverage to overcome a challenge.
Let's break that down:
1️⃣ Focusing: this means cutting priorities, not ranking them.
2️⃣ Force: what power—capabilities, energy, and resources—can you bring to bear?
3️⃣ Point of leverage: where can you achieve outsized results if you focus force there? What is the crux, the unlock, the problem that if solved would make others irrelevant or easier?
4️⃣ Challenge: what stands in the way of achieving your objective, goal, or vision? Overcoming this challenge is the point of the other three.
The above is what it looks like to deliver on the purpose of strategy: to be a force multiplier on execution. Identifying the point of leverage is the heart of diagnosis1—finding the crux, if there is one—and depends on strategic insights.
Strategy is how, sometimes, David beats Goliath.
The other two elements of Rumelt’s strategy kernel—guiding policy and coherent actions—show up in how you choose to focus force, and the coherence of the resulting actions.