Strategy. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot in business. But what does it mean? Is it just a fancy term for a to-do list on steroids?
The author Steve Blank learned the hard way that strategy is not a series of tasks to be checked off. It’s a guiding principle, a north star that drives every decision and action. Without a clear understanding of your strategy, you’re just spinning your wheels.
Take Blank’s students, for example. They were going through the motions of Customer Development, but they didn’t understand the why behind it. To them, it was just another item on their to-do list. And when push came to shove, they abandoned it to launch on schedule.
But as Blank points out, executing mutually exclusive strategies is a recipe for disaster. It’s like trying to drive in two directions at once—you’ll end up going nowhere fast.
A study by the Harvard Business Review found that companies with a clear, coherent strategy outperformed their peers by 30%. But a strategy isn’t something you can pick off the shelf. It requires a deep understanding of your customers, your market, and your own capabilities.
Michael Porter, the godfather of modern strategy, said, “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” It’s about making tough choices, saying no to the things that don’t align with your vision, and focusing relentlessly on the things that do.
Is your strategy a compass or a checklist? Are you making decisions based on a clear understanding of your goals, or are you just ticking off tasks? As Blank learned, the difference can be between success and failure.
